Land lord dies, brother takes over property. He says damage deposit can not returned until things are settled in court. Is this true.

Hello d:

No. The landlord has an estate and an executor with a checkbook. They can certainly pay if they choose to. Sue 'em.

excon

Did you move? Does your state require that security deposits be kept in a separate account?

If the deposits were not required to be kept in a separate account, its possible that the estate is very complicated and needs to be straightened out to determine if there is enough money to pay the creditors (of which you are one). On the other hand, your state may require that deposits be returned in a specified length of time or there is a penalty. In that case, the executor might be derelict in his duty to not pay the deposit in time.