Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Tennessee

Sister removes property before going thru Probate.

My mother-in-law passed away in November and my husband is the executor. The attorney gave him a document to have his siblings sign basically saying they didn't need to take inventory of the personal property (not worth much) and they could decide how to divide it amongst themselves. A few of the siblings don't get along, and this weekend one of the sisters went over to the house and took the items that her other sisters had mentioned they wanted. Nothing has gone through probate yet, nor has the division of property started. However, everyone did agree to go ahead and let this sister have the refrigerator(the most valuable of the items) since hers was going out. One of the brothers happened to go over to the house, noticed items missing, knew who took them, went to her house, and they were unloading them off of the truck.

Is there anything that can be done to get her to return the items? One of the sisters said the attorney handling the probate could issue a warrant for her arrest. We have put the rest of the property in storage to keep her from taking anything else.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Laurie


Asked on 2/06/05, 10:37 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Autry Jones Jones & Landers, Attorneys At Law

Re: Sister removes property before going thru Probate.

Since there is already an attorney retained to represent the estate who is getting paid to give the executor legal advis, I would direct my questions to that attorney. However, since the property does belong to the estate anyone removing he property without the consent of the executor violates the law and could be arrested for theft.

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Answered on 2/08/05, 9:37 pm


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