Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Pennsylvania

Re: executor of estate won't acknowledge bills

You really should check with a real estate lawyer exactly how the house is owned. It might be as joint tenants with right of survivorship or tenants in common.

If it is joint tenants with right of survivorship, you would automatically own it when your father died, and it would be your responsibilty to maintain it, and your right to dispose of it any way you like.

If it is tenants in common, the interest in the house that was owned by your father would be a part of your father's estate, and should be retitled according to your father's will, if he had one, or according to the PA intestate succession law. The interest that you own remains yours.

Also, if it is tenants in common, you are responsible for half of the bills, and would not be entitled to recover 1/2 of what you paid, except for any bills that you paid the whole amount completely on your own.

A power of attorney expires when the person who gave it dies. Therefore, your sister could not continue to do anything with your father's assets.

Someone should be administering the estate by going to the Register of Wills office in the county where your father resided and applying for "letters" appointing the person executor / personal representative.

There are procedures to force a personal representative to act. To assist you in the estate matter, you should consult with an estates lawyer. Often, real estate lawyers also are estate lawyers.

You shouldn't let time pass without doing something.