Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Missouri
How long
My father in law passed away in Feb. 2005. We took his will to a laywer and signed the all the paperwork. Several weeks later we were informed the case was given to another lawyer and we received a $300.00 bill from lawyer #1.
We were contacted by lawyer #2 and insured we were in good hands and all was proceding well.
It is now Dec. 2006 and we have still not had the will probated nor received any of the property left in the will even thought we were told we needed to pay lawyer #2 $6000.00 in Sept. 2006. And funny, we called the week after paying him and were informed by answering service that he was on vacation.
We are still calling the lawyer every couple of weeks to see how things are going and last time the lawyers wife (his secretary) was very rude and actually blamed us for delaying the closure due to not pubmitting proper paperwork in time. Which is untrue.
My question is, how long should probate take?
The estate amounted to $40,000.00 in an IRA, a home worth $140,000.00 and two cars worth about 10,000.00.
3 Answers from Attorneys
Re: How long
In an administration such as you describe the administration should take about 10 months in Missouri. If the house was to be sold inside of the probate estate (as opposed to the title being redesigated in the name of the appropriate devisees) it could take longer depending upon how long it takes to close the sale of the house.
I would take a look at what is on file at the probate court. In order to close the estate, an accounting must be made to the court of all financial transactions that occirred during the probate administration. The client (Personal Representative) usually provides the raw data to the attorney in the formof bills, paid receipts and cancelled checks. If these documents have not been supplied to the attorney then he does not have the documentation needed to close the file with the court.
Re: How long
Mr. Nack is correct. Assuming your father-in-law lived in Missouri, it is important that you see the court's file ASAP. You may be able to do some checking on the internet, perhaps through casenet.org If you determine that there is no estate opened, or that the will was not admitted to probate, you may want to have a sit down meeting with lawyers 1 & 2.
Good Luck
Re: How long
Sometimes the administration of a Probate Estate can take quite a long time. Still, I would suggest that you go to the court house in the county where the decedent's real estate is located, and read the court file itself. Although the clerks can not give you legal advice, they should be able to tell you what the staus of the matter is and what needs to be done next. If the file is in order, then I would suggest writing your attorney a polite letter asking him to proceed with the final distribution without delay. I hope that this helps.