Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California
father's (no will) estate has gotten out of hand...
5 sibilings have been left with no will. my sister is admin having absolutly no knowledge or understanding in legalities, is trusting the lawyers every word and movement.
in 6 months court hearing labeled ''receip & final discharge'' has me believe that its 'finally' over. we've only been in probate for 3-1/2 years. only asset of estate was house. dad left 140K in debts. i have in my possession some of the estates mail that my sister was not concerned with cuz ''we pay lawyer to do that foot work, if house got it so did lawyer.
i have credit cards request to collect and creditors receipt(s) of full payment due to contract agreement. as well as monies due to irs from the prior year of my fathers death.
my sister swears by her attorney that there are no taxes due and that ''he has never heard of payment made to credit card(s) in full by contract; it's just not written that way'' contractors who were hired to raise the asset value have not been paid. even thou there was hand written agreements that they will get paid after sale of home.
i was only one out of us five kids written in as 'next of kin' on mortuary contract. having this title is there any thing i can do legally on my own before its too late - or is it too late?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: father's (no will) estate has gotten out of hand...
Given your feelings and concerns you could have and perhaps should have petitioned to be administrator of the estate yourself. It's pretty much too late now. Don't worry about creditors. If they haven't presented and resolved claims in probate its too late now.
Now that you and your sibs have a taste of what a nightmare probate can be, I suggest you get and read my book "How You Can Protect Your Loved Ones in the Event of Death or Disability (Without Paying a Legal Fees}" It will help you avoid the nightmare for your family. Get a copy for your sibs too. It'll make a greate Holiday gift.
Not only does it explain virtually everything you need to know in plain English, but it contains in the Appendix a copy of the Legacy Living Trust Package. This is a complete trust package for the Middle Class including a Living trust for single or for married people, a durable general power of attorney, an advance healthcare directive, an Abstract of Trust, all necessary transfer documents and instructions. Having taught literally hundreds of seminars to thousand of regular middle class people, I have learned how to answer the most important questions in language understandable to all. Having learned over 30 years that most people that go to an attorney to pay $1200 or more for these documents don't understand the language in the unnecessarily complicated documents, don't understand what they are doing and why, and ofen make common but avoidable mistakes, I created the Legacy Living Trust Package.
You can 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.
Agian, 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 ("People Ease", not "Legalese") that will be valid in every State in the US.