Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Utah
My grandfather passed away. All of his assets were TOD. He had 2 sons, one passed away years ago (my father). The other was left about 80% of the money, but refuses to pay any funeral expenses. He also claim all of the life insurance policies which had no one assigned to receive them. One of which I had, gave to the funeral home, who in turn sent to him to sign, and he claimed it and kept the money. Now the funeral home wants me to pay because I signed the paper. what can I do to get the life insurance money applied to the funeral costs so I am not left paying out of pocket, while my uncle gets away with all the money?
2 Answers from Attorneys
The law requires that the estate of the deceased pay all of the expenses, including the funeral. The remainder to be split according to the trust or will. You should open probate, get yourself appointed the personal representative and sue your uncle for an equitable division of the estate PLUS payment for last expenses.
Some additional questions are also in order. Was your uncle left about 80% of the estate by a will, or did he just take the money? Was he named as a beneficiary of the insurance policy? If so, that is not part of the probate estate. If not, and the estate was the beneficiary, then it has to go through probate. I do suspect that because the insurance company has apparently already paid out the proceeds, yur uncle was named as the beneficiary. More information is needed, but you definitely need to open the probate, and force the uncle to take care of the expenses first.
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