[lori61]

My husbands grandmother gave him money for a down payment on a house 19 years ago. My husband's mother (her daughter with whom the grandmother was living) said it was a "loan". After the grandmother died my husband's mother and father wrote and signed a letter that the money came from the grandmother's "estate". Now that my husband's parents have died his brother, the executor is taking the money out of my husband's share of the estate. Is there any legal basis for him to do so?

[AK lawyer]

My husbands grandmother gave him money for a down payment on a house 19 years ago. My husband's mother (her daughter with whom the grandmother was living) said it was a "loan". After the grandmother died my husband's mother and father wrote and signed a letter that the money came from the grandmother's "estate". Now that my husband's parents have died his brother, the executor is taking the money out of my husband's share of the estate. Is there any legal basis for him to do so?

If the loan was owed to his grandmother, or to her estate, I don't see how his parents' executor could take a contrary position: that it was owed to the parents.

Was the grandmother's estate ever probated? If so, who inherited from her?

What state are you in?

[lori61]

At death there were very little assets so there was no probate of the grandmother's estate. What ever was left went to her daughter and daughter in law. We are in Illinois. Also after the grandmother's death my husbands parents wrote and signed a letter stating the money came from the grandmother's estate to them and that they lent it to my husband for a downpayment when in truth the money was given by the grandmother and the grandmother told my husband she wanted him to have it. It was my mother in law who said it was a loan.

[AK lawyer]

At death there were very little assets so there was no probate of the grandmother's estate. What ever was left went to her daughter and daughter in law. We are in Illinois. Also after the grandmother's death my husbands parents wrote and signed a letter stating the money came from the grandmother's estate to them and that they lent it to my husband for a downpayment when in truth the money was given by the grandmother and the grandmother told my husband she wanted him to have it. It was my mother in law who said it was a loan.

I have looked at the Illinois Probate Act of 1975. I believe this statute is what would apply.

But I don't see anything in there about "advancements". It appears to have been the parents' belief that the money was theirs, and if not repaid it should constitute an advancement. What this would mean is that your husband's share would be reduced by the amount of such an advancement.

I suggest that your husband probably will have to hire an attorney to litigate this in the probate court. What he would contend is that the money wasn't an advancement, and that it wasn't his parents' money in any case, that it was a gift from the grandmother or, at the very least a loan owed to her, not to your husband's parents.

"A number of jurisdictions have enacted statutes which ameliorate the doctrine of advancement by requiring, for example, that the person giving the gift must indicate in writing that it is intended to be counted as an advancement against the estate. The Uniform Probate Code, which has been adopted in whole or in part by a number of states, limits the doctrine by requiring a writing from either the deceased or the recipient of the property indicating that the property was intended to be treated as an advance upon the estate." Advancement (inheritance) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia