Ask Me Help Desk - Can someone get my inheritance?

Ok so my father passed away last year. A few months before he died he was in a car accident. I do not know the full details of the accident but apparently he was drunk and rear ended someone. Now there was MINIMAL damage to both cars. You can barely tell that his car was in an accident. Now this kid wants to sue my dead father for a million dollars. My mom said that this guy can go after OUR Inheritance MONEY! Now I am just wondering if this is true that this guy can take my family's money when we did nothing to this guy. My father's dead he's already paid. Can this guy legally sue my dead father and get my inheritance? Isn't that what insurance is for?? Please help this happened over a year ago and we have heard nothing!

If the estate has not been probated and completed then its possible for him to file suit against the estate. If he does so, then the suit will have to be settled before the estate can be distributed.

He can sue for whatever he wants, but what he actually gets depends on the circumstances. If he's suing for a million bucks, then he's claiming physical injury. And that may be hard to prove or disprove. But its up to your father's insurance company to deal with the suit.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScottGem

If the estate has not been probated and completed then its possible for him to file suit against the estate. If he does so, then the suit will have to be settled before the estate can be distributed.

He can sue for whatever he wants, but what he actually gets depends on the circumstances. If he's suing for a million bucks, then he's claiming physical injury. And that may be hard to prove or disprove. But its up to your father's insurance company to deal with the suit.

THANKS!! One more thing... what does probated and completed mean? My mom said that the money from the estate (money left over from his house that was sold) had to stay in an account for seven months for legal reasons... It's been over that seven months so are we able to take the money? Is that what you were talking about? Sorry I don't know much about this stuff! Thanks again!!

If your father left a will that will needs to be probated. This means submission to your local Probate court. The Probate court will assign an executor and approve disbursements. If your mom said the estate has to be active for 7 months, that's to give creditors time to make a claim against the estate.

If the waiting period has passed, your mom probably needs to go back to Probate court and ask that the estate be closed out because no claims have been filed against it. If the court approves, then whatever funds and/or assets that are left in the Estate can be distributed according to the provisions of the will.

She probably should do this quickly, if the law suit hasn't been filed against the estate. Because once it has, the court won't approve closing the estate until the litigation is completed.

If the estate is closed by the Probate court then the other party in the accident has no one to sue.m They may try suing the beneficiaries of the estate, but I don't think that will fly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScottGem

If your father left a will that will needs to be probated. This means submission to your local Probate court. The Probate court will assign an executor and approve disbursements. If your mom said the estate has to be active for 7 months, that's to give creditors time to make a claim against the estate.

If the waiting period has passed, your mom probably needs to go back to Probate court and ask that the estate be closed out because no claims have been filed against it. If the court approves, then whatever funds and/or assets that are left in the Estate can be distributed according to the provisions of the will.

She probably should do this quickly, if the law suit hasn't been filed against the estate. Because once it has, the court won't approve closing the estate until the litigation is completed.

If the estate is closed by the Probate court then the other party in the accident has no one to sue.m They may try suing the beneficiaries of the estate, but I don't think that will fly.

Thanks so much!! I just called my mom and told her to get on this ASAP! She says she's going to call on Monday! Thanks again! :)

Keep us posted? Did your mom confirm that the estate had been submitted to probate court?