Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Florida

My father passed away at the end of Nov and my sister is the executor. There are some gray areas and not sure how to go about this or even if my other 2 siblings and myself should. At the beginning of 2016 we all moved our father from Indiana to Florida due to his leukemia, he sold his house in Indiana and with a portion of the proceeds he split the cost of building a horse stable with living quarters in it for him to live on my sister and her husbands rented business property. This was done because my dad had 2 horses he needed to bring with him and then my sister purchased 3 more horse. The amount my dad invested in the stable was between 22,000.00 to 35,000.00 (my dad said it was 35K, my sister said it was 22K), my sister is the only one who has the bank statements and has not released those to anyone so that can be verified. My fathers passing was very quick and though he did have a will, there were several things that he had not yet had time to place in the will and one was to address the money he had just put into the stable and his living quarters. He did address these things verbally and had stated that the investment was our sisters inheritance but did not put it in writing. My question is what is the laws view on such issues? As it stands my sister is not counting any part of that investment as part of the estate to be divided in the percentages stated in the will with regards to the estate; however, she is counting the 10,0000.00 my dad paid to close on a house he bought to rent to my brother and is saying that the 10,000.00 that our dad put out to close on that home is what our brother was to get from the estate and nothing more. I just dont understand if that is right how then is the 22K or 35K our dad put into building the stable any different other than it is 2 to 3 times more than the closing of the home. If you have any clarity on this type of matter and if you think we should raise this up to the court system please share that information with me so I can have a better understanding of how to proceed and if this is fair and legal. thank you


Asked on 3/25/17, 12:14 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Lucreita Becude Lucreita D. Becude, P.A.

I suggest you file an adverse action in Probate Court and make her disclose all property and assets. The court will look at the will and percentages are based on funds available. With what you have stated, the court will consider the money to the brother and to the sister as a portion of their inheritance and to be deducted from the amount to be distributed. In other words you would get more than either of them because they have already benefited from what was to be their inheritance. But you must be able to prove what you say in court. The attorney fee can come out of the estate - so run get an attorney ASAP before she depletes all their is.

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Answered on 3/27/17, 8:41 am


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