I had posted a question earlier this month but no responses. I need to know if any one knows about Mediations. I went to court Aug 9th (with out an attorney) to stop the court from assigning the executer (my aunt). I request a public administrator (a court appointed executor). The judge listened to what I had to say and she decided to set a mediation court date so our family could sit down and go over what the issues are.

My aunt sold 700acr of our family’s property in CA for 238K if you live in CA you know how crazy that is... and it was owned out right since 1907.
Someone got a sweet hart deal and the aunt receives the monthly payment off the sale of the property (she changed my grandfathers will after the sale of the property to make sure she receives the note). Now she wants to become the executer!

I have been told I need an attorney for this. I contacted an attorney and explained the whole story of what has happened and he was pretty up front and said she definitely screwed us but in order to fight this attorney fees could be up to 100K.

I got involved for my dad since he doesn’t know the first thing about how to deal with his sisters fighting and all he wants is for things to be divided equal. My dad is 62yr and so I have found that with his age he can get legal advice for free but I guess you get what you pay for. I don’t know if I should get an attorney or just go to the Mediation and see what happens.

Hello molly:

Anytime you're facing the legal system, you NEED a lawyer. I wouldn't hire the one who said his fee could be $100K, though. You CAN pay by the hour.

excon

Mediation is a process where an impartial third party tries to get both sides to compromise and agree, rather then have a judge make the decision.

So basically, you all sit down and talk it out. The mediator is there to make sure you stay civil and to make suggestions for compromise.

Do you need an attorney for mediation? Maybe not as it is a more informal process. However, you do need to understand the applicable law to know whether you are giving things up.

I would also shop around for a lawyer a $100K fee sounds very high in this instance.

I checked your previous post, in your position, I would insist on three things:

1) that the court appoint a third party as executor
2) that a full accounting of the estate be done
3) that the property that was sold be realistically appraised.

If aunt1 has nothing to hide then she should agree to all three.

Molly - is your dad a member of AARP or any other 'group'? (VFW, Elks, Shriners, Rotary Clube, etc). Going through groups like that is often a good way to be referred to reasonably prices legal services. If he's not a member of AARP it's very easy to join and he would instantly have full access to membership benefits. They have lots of benefits for their members. My parents have found fantastic attorneys, insurance, financial advisors, etc through AARP who charge a fraction of their "normal" fees to members. I don't know if they are able to write off the difference in their fees as some sort of donation or what, but it's worth looking into.

I agree - $100K is outrageous. Keep shopping. But I, too would pursue finding a reasonable attorney specializing in such matters.

Karla in TX