Estate settlement

[perry mason]

My sibling is executor of my mothers will. She claims there is 200K to split. I feel there was a lot more and she has been siphoning it over the last several yrs. She helped her with her finances and banking. If I take my share of the 200K now and we find out later she has hidden a lot of the estate do I still have a right to the hidden money or did I give it up by taking my share of the 200K. We could be talking 750K - 1.5M hidden or misappropriated shall we say. My mother put all money in both thier names.but left a will to split all asets evenly....thanks in advance

[Eagle]

Do you suspect the sibling of taking the money without the mother's consent or do you think mother and sibling cooperated to move this money out of the estate?

[perry mason]

I think she moved the money to her own acct without my mothers consent

[Eagle]

Well, if you can come up with some proof of this then you definitely have a case here. Do you have access to your mothers financial records?

[perry mason]

I dont have access but my mother inherited aboy 1M in 2006 from her sister. My sister claims she just paid 85K in taxes on my mothers behalf out of my mothers estate because she did not pay tax on what she inherited in 2006. She wont let us know what she inherited exactly and claims it was no where near 1M. As a matter of fact that estate (my aunt) is still in probate according to my sister and since my mother passed she is now the executor of that estate. My siblings want to go to an attorney but I fear we could get nothing if she put it all in her name and hid money in other accounts

[Eagle]

If the sister's (your aunt) estate is still in probate then you should be able to find out the dollar amout of the estate. You should call the Probate Court in the county where probate is taking place and ask how you can see the documents. These should be public record documents. Also, your mother's estate really can't be wrapped up until the sister's estate is settled.

[perry mason]

Thank You.

[perry mason]

Something else has come to light one of my siblings has hired an attorney to see what is exactly in the estate. My mother gave this other sister who is not executor 75K 8 weeks before she passed and told her there was more to come this is not part of you inheritance. Well the sister that is the executor said that was your inheritance and there is no more for you. She is hiring an attorney to follow my moms money trail. I on the other hand would like to know if I take the 50K my sister the executor says I have coming, do I have a right to any money my other sisters attorney finds that may have been taken innappropriately.....thank you
She is getting ready to pay me off so Im not sure what to do

[Eagle]

You won't be waiving any rights if you take the 50k. However, be careful not to sign anything that would waive your right to go after any additional assets. The will is the controlling document here. If it says all assets are split 3 ways then that is the way it will be.

If the sister who is executor has tried to hide assets she can be sued for fraud among other things. The transfer from your mother to the other sister is very suspicious too.

By the way, did you get a copy of the will?

[perry mason]

Yes I did, It is 16 yrs old and simply states all assets are to be split evenly amongst the children. One more thing my mother put my sisters name and her husbands on the house with her name for $1 in 2006. It was structured so when she passed away it would all go to my sister (tenancy in common) I believe. Would that include all the furnishings in the house also? It said nothing about furnishings but she has moved her son and wife in a fully furnished house now.