Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California
wills and trust and credit cards
My mother passed away 3 years ago and then my grandmother passed away 6 months ago. Grandmas will says my moms portion of the estate is to be left to myself and my siblings. My aunt was ''caring'' for my grandma the last 2 years. My aunt maxed out grandmas credit cards 60k and spent all of the savings 30k. Grandma left my very competent uncle as executor. My aunt told my uncle and us that she did wrong and she would make the payments on the cards until grandmas house sold. The house has sold and now she hired an attorney and her attorney is saying my aunt is to only pay 20k from her share to go toward the credit cards and that if there is no response within 10 days they will remove him as executor. She has said she will pay this amount as long as we all sign something that says we will not go after her for elder abuse. Which we have never even mentioned doing. She needs to pay for the credit cards that she maxxed. How can we avoid going to court over this and getting the credit cards aid from her share and what is the law for removing executors? She also has a prior criminal record for petty theft.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: wills and trust and credit cards
Your uncle, the executor, needs to hire an attorney as soon as possible. Do not delay. This is not the time to try to save a few bucks and do it yourself.
Re: wills and trust and credit cards
Your uncle has a legal duty to take action to protect Grandma's estate and to protect the interests of all of the heirs. Your uncle is not the executor unless he has been appointed by the Probate Court to serve (as Personal Representative). Your uncle, or you can make a criminal complaint against your aunt for Financial Exploitation of a Vulnerable Adult, there is a similar claim that can be made in the Probate Court. The civil penalty is that she would lose her interest in the estate and would be ordered to pay the estate the money she took wrongfully.
You should get an attorney to represent your uncle, get him appointed personal representative and he should ask the probate court to take action against the aunt. You should not release the aunt from liability, whatsoever.
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