Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

Additional questions about my Mom�s estate

I have an addition to this question, here is my situation, and My Mom passed away from ALS in July I was staying with her taking care of her in a rental house. 5 or 6 months before she passed away, she gave me her car and all the furniture, my younger sister was there and heard her give me the stuff. My older sister is the executer of the will and is telling me that all of the furniture and the car have to go into the estate and be sold. Is this true? and doesn�t it cost money to have that done?

My additional questions are: The sister that is the executer took stuff from the house even though she was told it was all left to me, none of the items she took were cataloged or documented and I don�t really know what all she took only some of it, Wouldn�t she have to give it all back to the estate? From my point of view, I could never be absolutely sure she returned everything, from a legal stand point how would this be viewed? As for the auction who would be in charge of that? At this point, would the state get involved?

Darryl


Asked on 11/14/07, 7:21 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Mitchell Roth MW Roth, Professional Law Corporation

Re: Additional questions about my Mom�s estate

Man, it is frightening how little people know about what happens when the inevitable happens and people die. If the estate has any significant value, hire a lawyer to protect your interests. An executor is only an executor by court order. Without a court order and a probate proceeding in court there is no executor. If your sister is raping the estate, it is a crime, called theft. If no probate is opened, open one and apply to become the personal representative of the estate.

You have the obligation to protect yourself. No one else will do it. The courts will assist, but only if you take the initiative.

You want to avoid these types of problems for your family and love ones? Get an education about this stuff. You can learn what you need to know by reading my book.

It is coming out on the 15th of this month, "Create Your Legacy & Save the American Middle Class, How You Can Protect Your Loved Ones in the Event of Death or Disability (Without Paying a Legal Fees}"

You will be able to order the book on-line at Amazon.com, but, it is better to order at www.IWant2CreateMyLegacy.com. If you order there, you will get a free special report entitled "The Seven (7) Most Common Mistakes Made by the Middle Class in Planning For the Inevitability of Death and the Likelihood of Disability, and How to Avoid Them." This report alone could save you and your family hundreds of times the cost of the book.

The book is, to my knowledge, the only one written for regular people in the middle class, and it contains in an appendix the Legacy Living Trust Package, which to my knowledge is the only complete fill-in the blanks trust package written in simple English (no Legalese) that will be valid in every State in the US.

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Answered on 11/14/07, 8:51 pm


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