Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in New York
Help,
Help!
I am a beneficiary in my fathers estate. Last year I was suspicious of the way the Executor was handling the money in the Estate so I hired an attorney and made many objections to the estate accounting. Well since then I had to let my attorney go and now I am handling things myself, pro se. Yes, I realize I have a gigantic task ahead of me. My question is, I have permission from the court to do a discovery. But, unfortunately, I didn't have a lot of time or money to put towards getting this done and now the deadline for the discovery is the end of this month, which is next week! That's 5 business days. Can I even do anything in 5 business days? For example, request from the Execuors attorney for statements from the Estate Checking account?
Thank you!
3 Answers from Attorneys
You can call the other side ask for an extension, if they agree you both call the court together and talk to the law secretary handling the matter. Or send all your demands by fax and regular mail today. you are supposed to give 20-30 days notice to give them time to comply but as you are unrepresented you may receive a little leniency unless you have had an extended time to do discovery and have done nothing. This is not legal advice as the full matter has not been reviewed by our office and is a general statement.
Send out your notices for discovery today.
Discovery can be by way of written questions, including demands for production of documents, and/or by way of depositions, which are face-to-face questions with a court reporter taking down the questions and answers and preparing a written transcript. This is why you really should be using an attorney familiar with these matters. In view of your time limitations, perhaps Bunji's response should be used, and if an extension is granted, retain an attorney to assist you.