Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

Wills are not read to a group of relatives; that happens only on TV and in the movies. Her prior lawyer is, upon her death, no longer her lawyer. He has no further role in the matter unless your brother retains him as the estate attorney. As executor of the Will he has very little power. In California anyone can admit the Will into probate, but it does not have to go into probate if the total assets are worth less than $100,000. Once probate is filed, the court decides who the actual administrator of the Will should be; you can object to your brother on the basis he has already shown a bias [write him with a SASE and a check for $2 for a copy of the Will and any related documents, including the current deed of trust on your mother's home--he may have gotten her to sign that over to him].

You and your sister probably need to take a trip to your mother's home to get the photos and any other objects she willed you and to check on the title to the house and car, the contents of any safe deposit box, etc. You also need to sit down with your brother and perhaps a neutral relative and work out a mutuallly agreeable division of the property and terms as to how it will get to you if you can not take it along with you when you go home.