Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Florida

I have a question about probating a will in Florida by means of summary administration. It was my mother who died and her four senior citizen children are the beneficiaries. one of the beneficiaries, my brother was nominated as alternate personal representative in the will, after my father who is deceased. my brother has the will and all bank account information he retrieved from my mother's file cabinet. he has somehow closed all the bank accounts without letters of administration. there was also a list with the will bequeathing to me some furniture. it was written by me at the request of my mother. my brother has decided this is not fair and has decided to subtract the value of the furniture from my inheritance. he will not let me see the list, he ignores all requests for it. I am trying to probate the will now but apparently it will not be easy because my brother is being uncooperative. he won't give us the information we need to file for probate. we assume he will not sign the petition. we were told we may have to file a formal probate, which will get expensive. it will also make him a court appointed personal representative and I don't know what he will be able to get away with then. the estate is only worth 51,000. I just don't know what to do. I don't know how to get this list from him or the bank information. I am looking for advice, thank you very much.


Asked on 9/08/11, 2:36 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys
Sanford M. Martin Sanford M. Martin, P.A.

If your brother continues to be unwilling to resolve the described issues, you are advised to seek resolution through local probate court which will require representation by an attorney. It is not necessary that your brother be appointed PR; in fact, your attorney may advise appointment of a neutral, non-family PR. Your situation is unfortunate but your brother's described unreasonableness leaves you limited options.

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Answered on 9/08/11, 2:54 pm
Richard Kaplan

You need a probate lawyer to deal with this. You can't do this alone.

If I am reading this right, I don't think there is any advice I could give that would sway family members to do what they are required to do. That is when a Judge is needed to Order the appropriate action.

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Answered on 9/08/11, 3:00 pm


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