Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in New York
Distribution of Estate
My sister is the executrix of my mother's estate and she and my youngest brother did a wonderful job handling the mess left behind. In fact, they were able to greatly expand the estate since my mother was not the most organized of persons. The problem is that we have another brother who, politely speaking, is nuts and has hated us since childhood. He's holding up the distribution of the estate thinking that my sister (who's been completely honest in all transactions) is stealing even though we're all getting exactly the same (minus the exector fees which were clearly stated), Even after the distribution there's over $125K left after all taxes, etc. He's actually arguing about a few thousand dollars in expenses that she incurred because she needed to come from her home in Los Angeles to NY a number of times to clean up and sell her house here (a nightmare). And again, we're all splitting everything equally yet it's costing him more for his own lawyer than he can ever get but, as I said, he's nuts. Is there anyway we can make the distributions including his, leaving the reserve to cover any eventualities. Thanks!
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Distribution of Estate
There is.
If the amount in dispute can be identified with certainty, the Executor may retain this amount, and a little bit more to cover legal fees and other expenses, and distribute the excess as provided by the Will.
Each recipient will sign a refunding bond to povide for recovery if the reserve proves to be insufficient.
Most families have a �nut� and in times of stress they can be a downright nuisance and extremely expensive.
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