Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Massachusetts
Our father passed away 5 years ago without a will. His greatest asset was a multi family rental property with a mortgage through the USDA rural housing development program. The administrator (my brother) has not sold the property (to my knowledge never attempted claiming federal regulations). My mother passed away 2 years ago and by law inherited 50% of my father's estate. Due to sibling bickering, we opted for a third party administrator appointed by the probate court for my mother's estate. We received outside legal counsel which informed us that the administrator of our mother's estate would investigate our father's estate and that our mother's estate could not be closed until our father's estate was closed. We recently received a letter from the court appointed administrator stating "I can administer the estate (mother's) and simply ignore the multi-family rental property estate issue". I spoke to the administrator who wrote this and he suggested that because we all inherit the same amount he does not have to address it.
Our question: Can this 3rd party administrator ignore the largest asset of the estate? Should we file a complaint with the court? Can we petition the court to remove the first administrator (father's estate) and merge the estates?
4 Answers from Attorneys
TO me that is a violation of the administrator's role.
The estate in its totality must be done.
Your suggestion is a good one, and it would certainly be a good gambit. I like it.
If you need assistance, contact me.
I agree with attorney Lebensbaum that your father's estate property cannot be "ignored", and must be considered in the probating of your mother's estate. You may want to hire a new attorney, or simply wrap up your father's estate first.
You do not need to sell your father's house, but it will need to be appraised and the value considered in your mother's estate.
It is not appropriate to do so without everyone's consent including the court. I assume there are no claims and tax issues related to the Mother's estate and I assume that each of you are entitled to an equal share.
The Administrator of your mother's estate is trying I think to make things simpler for all concerned and less expensive.
Without more information, it is difficult to advise you. However, if the heirs of the mother's estate are different from those of your father's he cannot do what he has suggested.
Please feel free to contact me if you have more questions.
I may be that you and your siblings already own the property (both through your father's estate and then your mother's) and therefore there is nothing that the administrator can do with the property since it passed upon death to your father's heirs, and isn't under the administrator's control. It would be up to the owners (you and your siblings) to decide amongst yourselves what to do with the property, or to each hire your own attorneys to resolve it.
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