Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California
what does a w-9 form sent by probate attorney mean?
my father in law passed away 8-9-2003, my sister in law is executor of his trust, his probate attorney sent my husband a w-9 form to fill out,we were wondering what does the w-9 mean? does it mean that a disbursement is coming shortly? there are five children who are to inheirit a combined amount of 999,000$ and no one is contesting any part of the will.his house was sold and all assests were liquidated(mutual funds, bank accounts, etc)
my sister in law also said that we should receive one smaller disbursement by christmas and another larger one sometime in 2004, why would there be two disbursements if everything is taken care of ?
to my understanding, there are no problems with the will, so is it standard proceedure to distribute two seperate disbursements? or should there only be one disbursement?
please respond, and thank you for a response, if any.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: what does a w-9 form sent by probate attorney mean?
Probate takes a minimum of 4 months from the date the administration of the estate begins. Creditors need to be paid, and then a final accounting and petition to close the estate must be filed and approved by the court.
If you want only one distri then you will need to wait until the final accounting and petition, which based on the date of death, would probably be no earlier than March.
Re: what does a w-9 form sent by probate attorney mean?
To let you know, briefly, two distributions are common. Your sister-in-law is giving you a portion now, which can be up to $10,000. But a final distribution can not be made until the estate is ready to be closed. She has to give time for any unknown creditors to make a claim on the estate. She has to give at least four months for that to occur. Your sister-in-law will have to do a lot of work to close the estate, so try to be patient, most estates take about a year to wrap up completely.
Related Questions & Answers
Looking for something else?
10,200 active attorneys ready to answer your legal questions today.
Featured Attorneys
Earn additional revenue and grow your business.
