Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

Assuming there was a probate, the final order would normally state that any new assets discovered would be divided among the heirs. Tax implications are unknown, without knowledge of what the asset is.

It could be a scam from a collection agency that wants to find out her whereabouts to serve her with a lawsuit or repo her car. Never call a toll-free number in response to someone offering you found money, they will capture the number you called from. If you think you might have real unclaimed money, go to the State Controller's website.

I agree with Michael, it could be a scam so you need to be careful. There are a lot of people out there that try and sell services to recover long lost assets for an up front fee and then they do nothing more than check state unclaimed property websites. You can check those websites on your own - its free and easy.

Assuming that there is some unclaimed property somewhere, you wife probably has a fiduciary duty as the former executor to try and collect it. (She might not if the costs of doing so exceeded the value of the asset.) You wife is also not required to expend her own money to pursue this matter and can (and should) ask the beneficiaries to chip in for any costs that have to be advanced. Depending on the size of the estate there could or could not be a tax issue to deal with and, after all was said and done, the asset would get divided up in accordance with the decedent's will and the final order closing the estate.

Jon Reich

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