Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in New Jersey

My Mother died in Florida 4 years ago. My brother & I are equally Trustres of her assets. After her home was sold last year & all proceeds divided equally, we now have 4 IRA & investment accounts left.

My brother refuses to liquidate any of these accounts. I have contacted all the banks holding these accounts & each have sent paperwork to liquidate & divide the assets. He refuses to sign this paperwork.

I have written to the Judge in Florida who had handled an earlier part of the Estate when we were involved with suing someone & all the assets of the Estate had to be accounted for. I asked the Judge to give permission to the banks involved to equally distribute the remaining accounts, but I never heard a word back from anyone.

Being involved in a lawsuit earlier on cause us to pay thousands & thousands of dollars to lawyers only to have my brother in the end as Sole PR to drop the cases.

I do not wish to pay lawyers again. The Estate is now small (under 200K) and is all contained within these 4 accounts.

How can I force the liquidation of these accounts? I just want this chapter in my life closed and the money remaining distributed before the monthly fees eat all the money.

I live in New Jersey & my brother in New York & our Mother died in the state of Florida in 2008. I will appreciate any help or guidance you can give me. Thank you.


Asked on 4/04/12, 3:44 am

2 Answers from Attorneys
Larry Raiken Larry S Raiken LLC

Nothwisthstanding your reluctance to use Attorney it is your only solution. Suit must be brought againt your brother to either remove him or force him to liquidate.

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Answered on 4/04/12, 7:41 am
Walter LeVine Walter D. LeVine, Esq.

What makes this more difficult, is that the estate is in Florida, which requires that an attorney be involved in almost every aspect of an estate. You idicate you both are trustees, but this involves an estate. Is there a trust or did you just use the wrong categorization of your position - executors, not trustees. I am surprised, somewhat, that the account holders will not recognize the ownership as being 1/2 each and just divide the accounts and distribute yours. If this cannot be done, it will be necessary to bring suit to bring this to a head.

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Answered on 4/04/12, 8:03 am


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