Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

Family death - how do we handle paperwork

Sister died Feb.2003. House sold 40,000. due to condition of which 7500 balance in escrow needs to be claimed. Empty Lot property in Ca City 5,000. No other assets. Ins policies 2 at 500 ea face value but they need small estate proceedings order or affidavit from state to release money. Other sister in AL is executrix but not filing anything as says sorting thru papers. Told me got extension on Income tax filing, Soc Sec still sending direct dep to bank & credit cards may be open yet. AL sister transported all furniture etc to storage in AL after house broken into & many things stolen, says awaiting police reports before filing homeowners claim. Some of furniture in AL was to go to her son per dead sister. AL sister was using credit cards of dead sister when she came for funeral. I wrote credit bureau but no response. AL Sister claiming 24/7 care for 6 mo while in CA with dead sister. Sister that died was on Medi-cal. What is procedure for handling this? Is there anything I can or should do? Is there a time limit to file or what?


Asked on 9/07/03, 7:08 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Wayne Wisong Wayne Wisong, Attorney at Law

Re: Family death - how do we handle paperwork

It sounds like the sister in AL may be committing credit card fraud with the deceased sister's card, and perhaps improperly diverting, even stealing, estate property. Contact a local probate specialist. I would not be surprised if he/she recommends you go ahead and file papers to be named admininstrator. The out of state aspects of this may make it tricky to get jurisdiction over her, but there are probably ways.

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Answered on 9/08/03, 6:54 pm


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