My father passed away in 2008. The time between his diagnosis and death was short, and he had little time to prepare his last will. He named his brother, (my Uncle), as Executor, and my sister was named to take his place should he be unable, (for any reason) to fulfill his obligation. Long story short, he 'cooked the accounting books', before helping himself to the majority of the modest inheritance money my Father left for my sisters and I, before 'resigning' his position as Executor. My sister took over the responsibilities, and completed the legal obligations of the Estate. I have worked with her to review my Uncle's accounting, and have found that he justified his 'claims' by providing an 'I.O.U', allegedly written by my Father, expenses for a trip they took together, (Verbal Promise). He also charged the 'Estate' for payments he made on the Estate's behalf for my Dad's car payments, then failed to report the refund he received once the Death Certificate was verified. As well, he charged the Estate a 24% "tax" fee, but failed to provide details for this.We discovered and verified this information very recently, (Oct.2011), and wish to confront him. We believe we need legal council, and I am wondering what the statute of limitations are for a case like this. The total amount we wish to recover to the Estate is greater than $4000. 00 CAD. Any and all info and advise you can offer is greatly appreciated!

Is the Estate legally closed? If so, WHEN was it closed?

I would say that your legal fees will be more than you can recover. This is a very difficult thing to prove AND in many cases the Estate "tax" fee either represents taxes OR a fee agreement OR a Court-approved percentage.

Why, for example, wouldn't the payments on your father's car be an Estate expense?

Question - why didn't anyone question the accountings as they were prepared and submitted?

HI JudyKayTee,
Thank you for your response. My Father's 'Will' was not one legally prepared by an attorney, nor was it notarized, or officiated in any way. It was typed with specific directions, and signed by two other family members. Taxes were filed with Revenue Canada, after my Uncle 'resigned', as my sister finished those formalities. If the Estate is 'legally' closed, I am not sure. I will ask my sister. The payments on my Father's car were an Estate Expense, ( I apologize for not being clear about that) and my Uncle was responsible for making the payments from the Estate account. He did, for a year after my Father's passing, and deducted these payments from the Estate account. When he sent finally sent in my Father's Death Certificate, the Financing Company sent a cheque back to the Executor, (my Uncle), for reimbursement of the year of payments. At that time, my Uncle cashed the cheque, but did not credit the Estate account, and therefore, neglected to reimburse the Estate. He kept both the deductions from the Estate, and the refund cheque from the finance company. It was difficult, but I did managed to obtain proof of this from the finance company. My sisters and I questioned my Uncle, about various actions and inactions he was taking as far as following the directives of the 'Will'. He was vague, and 1 year and 2 months after my Father's passing, he 'quit'. At that time, he gave my sister a few boxes filled with paperwork and bank statements, receipts, and miscellaneous statements. He offered nothing more, and was 'unavailable' to answer any questions. So she had to start over, basically, to find what he had and had not done. Nothing was in order, and it has taken us since then to go through everything. I don't think that we could peruse him on the Estate's behalf, but I am wondering if we could peruse him on our own. He stole from us, I think. He betrayed my Father and stole from my sister's and I.

No question from what you say - he betrayed (and disrespected) your father and stole from you and your sister. If you have sufficient proof - and I don't know if you do or don't - you could ALWAYS try an action in Small Claims Court. An Attorney doesn't make sense with that dollar amount.

I wonder if the estate was ever formally opened - if a Judge, Court, some other entity actually supervised distribution of the assets, payment of taxes and so forth.

Can you find that out?

I - unfortunately - am in the US... but I can research as can my "colleagues."