Hi there. My mother recently passed away and my (untrustworthy) sister propelled by a troublemaking brother in law is the executress of the estate. My mother left the house and its contents to her, and the rest is to be equally distributed among the remaining 5 children. I would guess (the estate has not been appraised yet) based on my mother's finances that the remaining 5 of us will get about $1k -$2k after everything is said and done. But I do have some questions.

1.) Since sis inheirited the house (worth about $90k) and its contents (virtually no value) does that mean while the estate is being settled she will be able to take money out of my mothers remaining monies (which goes to the 5 of us) to pay for things such as property taxes, utilities, fees to haul away goods, $$$$ to get house ready to put on market etc. And if so, when the estate is closed can they deduct that from her executor share etc. since she got the only real thing of value out of the estate?

2.)Can I as an heir mentioned in the will ask to recive copies of insurance policies etc. I do realize we will receive a copy of the will and a statement of inventory etc. But there is one life insurance policy that is questionaable as to whether it is still valid.

3.) Questionable Life Insurance policy: Policy was originated in 1954 by my grandfather if one of our parents became deceased. If both parents are deceased, it was to be divided equally between the surviving children as a result of the marriage. When my parents were divorced, apparently my mother changed the policy naming herself as beneficiary in the case that her ex husband (my father) died. Here is the question: since the polciy holder is deceased, can the surviving children continue to pay the premiums and inherit the policy upon the death of our father? Since this policy is now the property of the estate, and we don't trust the sister/executress, we would like to know. And that is why I would like a copy of this policy to take it to my own lawyer.

4.) When the will is read (I'm not real sure how this works), if the meddling brother in law is present, as heirs, are we allowed to request only those NAMED in the will be present for the reading and discussion of the will? Or will they do that automatically. My brother in law controls my sister, who controls our families estate, and that is pretty much uncomfortable.

5.) Can the remaining 5 siblings request all copies of estate documentation and take to our own lawyer just to make sure everything is on the up and up? We do not really think contesting the will is in our own best interest financially (its pretty much set in stone) but we do have concerns about this one insurance policy.

Thank You in Advance

I am not an attorney and am not rending legal advice but from my eperience with life insurance, probate and last wll and testament matters, let me attempt to give you some limited assistance.

First, your mother's will determines how her estate is distributed and who handles the gathering of assets and their final disposition. You've already stated that your sister is the executor of the estate and therefore, it's her job to gather all estate assets and then disperse them to the heirs per your mother's will.

You have already stated that your mother's estate consisit of a home worth about $90,000. And about $5000 to @10000 in other misc assets that will be divided equally among the heirs.

Keep in mind that most life insurance proceeds goes to the primary beneficiary(s) if they are alive and if not alive, then to any contingent or 2nd beneficiar(s) if any are named. Also keep in mind that unless the life insurance policy or policies are very very small, there is more than likely a named beneficiary. On very small industrial life policies issued many years ago that are usually less than $1000 it's not uncommon to see a very "loose" beneficiay designation so that even a funeral home, though not named specifically, can present a claim as beneficicary and be paid. Also, keep in mind that "joint" life polices back in 1954 were probably not in existence then and you are probably referring to just one policy that covered only one person not two jointly.

Also keep in mind that the beneficiary can be "the estate of the insured" which would mean that the proceeds flow into the estate and then are dvided by the exector among the heirs.

You can continue to pay on a life policy once the insured is deceased but why would you want to do this ? The insurance was bought in order to paid out upon the death of the insured. I am not quite sure how an insurance company would react once they became aware of the death of the insured - its very likely they would "insist" on paying the death benefit. But it's up to the beneficiary / owner to present a claim.

The home is your sisters now according to the will and the other remaining @5000-$10000 that is to be divided amongst the five children belongs to those five children. Your sister should pay expenses from her own personal money not yours or you other 3 siblings.

You said the life insurance policy is now "the property of the estate" - I am not so sure that's correct unless the estate was the owner and I doubt that. Rather, the policy proceeds now belong to the named beneficiary(s). I suggest you attempt to find out excactly who the beneficiary is - you can do this by simply reading the policy. If I were the beneficiay, I would not take it to an attorney only for him to charge me for reading what I could have read. Rather I would present it to the life ins company along with a copy of the insured's death certiciate. To tell if the policy is valid, just call the company to see but be prepared, they will want to know who you are and if you have a right to know. And if you have no interest in the policy (Arent the named beneficiary), they may not discuss the policy with you.

I think you brother has a right to be present at the reading. Didn't you say he, along with you, are named as heirs?

Finally, if you are named in the will as an heir, I think you have a right for a copy of the will.

You are not being clear on this insurance policy. You indicated it was taken out by your grandfather and insured your parents? So Grandpa was the owner but who was the beneficiary? When your parents divorced, you indicated that mom got the policy which is on your father's life and made herself benenficary.
If all that is correct, it would be possible for one or more of the offspring to take over the policy. You need to consult an agent of the insurer for details on that. But that has almost nothing to do with the estate.

As executrix, your sister must keep an accounting of all expenses in resolving the estate. Those expenses should be taken proportionally from the distribution of the estate. So if she gets 90%, then 90% of expenses should come from her share.

All beneficiaries are entitled to an inventory of the estate and to see the above mentioned accounting. However, I don't think you can bar your bor-in-law from the reading of the will is she wants him there. With this small an estate, a formal reading, even probate may not be necessary.

Contesting the will, for such a small amount, would eat up the assets.

The above advice is all very good and you probably should reread it as you go through the process of investigation.

Regarding the will, there usually isn't a formal reading, especially when the estate is as small as you say. But, it is really up to your sister as to how she wants to proceed. You can always request copies of all the paperwork, including the insurance policy and the beneficiary info. If your mother had a will, it needs to be filed with the town or county clerk's office. For a fee, they will give you a copy of it.

If your sister doesn't hand over the insurance paperwork, try to get her to give you the policy information -- name of insurance co and policy number. If you can't get your sister to work with you on this, that is when you should contact an attorney. As RichardBondMan states, why hire an attorney if you can read the paperwork yourself and confirm that everything is being handled the way it should? If you can't get the paperwork on your own, the attorney you hire will know how to go about getting everything.

But, as ScottGem states, an attorney will eat up the estate assets. So, you might just find that the monies you receive will all go toward paying for an attorney. You most likely will spend more than what you are expecting to be paid out by the estate. You have to weigh out whether doing this is really a wise financial move. See if you can't find a way to convince your sister that giving all of you copies of the paperwork is the best way to keep peace in the family.

Thank you all so much for being so helpful! I have never gone through the process of settling a will so all the information being given is greatly appreciated.

It's not so much my sister we don't trust, but more her husband who pretty much tells her what to do and how to handle things. Given he no longer speaks to 90% of his own family over a will, surely you can understand the concern his influence may have on my sister.

If they base the payment of fees on a proportionate scale of inheritance, and we can see some kind of proof from the insurance company that the one policy is either null and void or can be continued by the children on our father, then I will be MORE than pleased with the outcome here!

Thanks again for all your help.

My sympathy to you & your 5 other siblings because your are right about wills being almost uncontestable. Know you likely covered all the ground I will be suggesting to pursue but perhaps something new will present itself. Suggest somehow getting name of insurance company & requesting status of policy. Attorney probating the Will should be able to do that for you if insurance company limits who can have such information. A formal request at the Reading of The Will should suffice in getting the ball rolling & at least get it on the 'agenda of things to do' for parties seeing to the desires stated in the Will. Suggest you confirm or designate a person to make notes of the meeting for documentation. Also, tape recorders are a nice tool for accuracy but everyone must know it is being used.

If you desire to be more aggressive, please be aware that only coexecutors, heirs, creditors & devisees(second generation heirs) can object to the actions of an executor/executrix. Probate Court will only entertain serious allegations of wrongdoing which means you need a preponderence of evidence to support your allegations. This using of funds from the estate to enhance value of home left to sister to make it ready to sell appears would fall in that category of misappropriation of funds since now they should be isolated separately & tracked accordingly via two separate Estate Accounts. Obviously, your sister will likely claim the mother should have used those funds for that before her death. Judge would likely rule that at time of death the assets with different heirs should have been kept separate.

Hope this helps!

Thank you for your input. We received the accounting of the estate (I am guessing it is the inventory and expenses), and I did end up calling the lawyer. When I called the lawyer, she had no idea there were two life insurance policies, apparently big sis never mentioned them. Incidentally, according to the accounting of the estate, the remaining bank accounts became property of big sis also since mom had put her name on them as POA. According to the letter from the lawyer, those bank accounts were not part of the estate and became "Property" of big sis. The bank accounts are what the others were supposed to receive their inheritance from for the most part, as the estate was depleted at the end of accounting.

I'm not sure, but I am hoping raising question to the fact that two life insurance policies (whether they were null and void or not) were not disclosed, that it may reflect on the way the entire estate was handled and make it objectable. The way it stands, big sis walks away with $100k (what she made from sale of house and bank accounts), other sis walks away with $27k in stocks, and the remaining 4 of us receive nothing. I'm pretty sure Mom did not want it to work out this way, but the reality is that it has.

Also in the letter, big sis stated that she intends to gift us a "portion" of those bank accounts ( of which we have no clue how much there is I might add). I do know however, after the lawyer called her questioning the life insurance policies, she got on the phone with one of my siblings restating her intent to the tune of $5k a piece. I have a feeling the lawyer was not real happy that some of the estate business was not fuly disclosed. Which brings us all to the conclusion that there may or may not be more things not brought out into the open. It's a mess, but not really much left to warrant fighting over. So I guess all we can do is wait to see if Big Sis honors our mothers wishes.

Have you not seen a copy of the Will? You know all Wills must be probated whether an inventory of assets is required or not - meaning RE can be trf'd by Immitent Transfer(title trf'd from Mom to Sis without having to prepare inventory of personal assets). This likely is what your sis did but the Will is still part of property records to reflect that transfer of the house. So search Property Records in county where property is located and get a copy of the Will to read and study for your own piece of mind if for no other reason.

The insurance issues have already been more than well covered by others. Good Luck!

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Originally Posted by somesaltysea

You know all Wills must be probated whether an inventory of assets is required or not -

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Not true. Probate is not always necessary or required. It probably was in this case, but its not true in all cases.

The main problem here is that, it appears, the sister managed to transfer some assets to joint accounts with her and mom BEFORE her death. That took those assets out of the estate.

ScottGem - levels of assets impact whether filings required. Help I'm trying to give 'Paradox' is where copy of will might be obtainable since it appears she has not seen one.

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Originally Posted by somesaltysea

ScottGem - levels of assets impact whether filings required. Help I'm trying to give 'Paradox' is where copy of will might be obtainable since it appears she has not seen one.

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So in that case you suggest that she check with the probate court to see if the will was filed. You DON'T make the inaccurate statement that all wills "must" be probated. If you post inaccurate info it will generally be corrected.

As far as the life insurance is concerned: if there is a named beneficiary the proceeds are NOT part of the "estate" and have no bearing whatsoever on settlement of the estate. The proceeds of a policy with a specific beneficiary are outside the corners of the Will. If the policy proceeds are payable to the estate, then it's a different matter.