Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Ohio

What happens after sale/foreclosure of estate?

My fatherinlaw passed away in July. We hired an atty because of my husbands sister who is also the executor of the will. Nov. 12 we received a batch of letters from the bank where the mortgage was held. The letters stated the house was in foreclosure with letters dated back to August. (Our atty assured us in August that the pmts would be made out of the trust fund (from the sale of the household items/trucks),but if they weren't he would contact us and we would split the pmts with the sister.) We contacted our atty immed. He said he had no clue about what was going on. Nov.14 we rec'd a fax from our atty telling us we had to sign the paper he faxed to agree to sell the house or we would lose all of it. Also on Nov. 14 we rec'd a letter from my husbands sister dated back to Nov 1 saying it was our fault that the house was going into foreclosure because we refused to sign the agreement to sell the house.She also added that we would be responsible for the atty costs for the foreclosure. Our atty. refuses to tell us who put the house on the market, when it was placed on the market, who is buying the house. I am at a loss as to what to do? Any suggestions?


Asked on 11/17/05, 5:52 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Jerome Gamache Ainsworth Thelin & Raftice, P.A.

Re: What happens after sale/foreclosure of estate?

Does the Will provide that your husband will split net the proceeds of the sale of the house with his sister? Are there any other devisees under the Will? What about the rest of the Estate assets, have they been satisfactorily dealt with yet?

It is difficult to pinpoint where the breakdown has occurred in your situation. It seems as though your sister is suggesting that your attorney has not communicated to you promptly the need to co-operate with the sale. It may be that your sister has not been diligent in her duties as P.R. of the estate to deal with the mortgage. In any event it is unclear to me why you need to sign anything to facilitate the sale, other than a waiver of an objection if the Will called for the house to go directly to the children. The P.R. should have the authority to sell it by herself. In any event it sounds like you need to be more proactive and demand that your attorney or the sister's estate attroney explain in plain english exactly what is going on and what needs to be done to wrap the estate up.

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Answered on 11/18/05, 8:19 am


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