Location: Tennessee
So my dad passed away, and my aunt is the executor of the estate, and she is saying that she is not opening the will/posting the Death Certificate And that we are to sell everything, she is also not letting the 2 beneficiaries of the will, that being me and my brother, to read the will.
Too clarify. In the will, it is stated that we are supposed to sell everything, and the profits are supposed to go to me and my brother but she is trying to sell things directly instead of asking/going through me or my brother who lives on the estate. And she’s trying to be paid directly.
Also in the will it states that if anyone contest the will in probate it is like voided or something.
Do I need to talk to a lawyer? If so what lawyer do I get?
Ps. Sorry for the crap format i haven’t gotten any sleep in a while
Comments
Demanding to read the will is not the same as contesting the will.
Get a lawyer.
If you are named in the will, you have a right to see the will.
Nobody reads a will like you see on TV.
Your attorney may have to make this a court case.
Lawyer, to get her to stop and force the reading of the will.
That’s what probate court is for.
Get a lawyer
You do need a lawyer – you’ll need an estate lawyer with experience in estate litigation.
Wills must be made public – not just to the beneficiary, but to everyone.. She doesn’t get to just hide it.
She also cannot be executor without a court order. The will may name her as such, but a court must approve it before it’s official.
And she cannot be paid directly with assets intended for the estate. They must be put into the estate’s accounts. That way if your father owed money his estate will have the money to pay his creditors before it pays beneficiaries.
Contact a lawyer today, not tomorrow, not next week. She is not properly managing the estate.
NAL
Your description is suspicious and you should talk to a probate attorney. But… this:
> In the will, it is stated that we are supposed to sell everything, and the profits are supposed to go to me and my brother but she is trying to sell things directly instead of asking/going through me or my brother who lives on the estate.
Is seemingly pretty normal. That is, executors administer the estate and beneficiaries receive the estate. If the will says the items should be sold that would be administering the estate. =
>And she’s trying to be paid directly.
She personally or she the estate?
Once you have a lawyer they will likely use this as grounds to file a request with the court to remove her as the executor on the grounds that she’s not upholding her fiduciary responsibility. The court can then appoint a neutral party who has no financial interest in the will.
You need to talk to a lawyer. Your aunt does not have authority to do anything until she is appointed by the court. You can ask for a successor executor to be appointed if she refuses to follow the will.
You do need to get a probate/estate attorney, and force probate open. She cannot sell things and pocket the money, that will get her into a loooot of trouble, but time is of the essence.
First, yes you should probably get a lawyer. Other points, right now your aunt is not the executor of anything. A court would need to appoint her which means they would need the will (it can be done intestate, but that means she would be unlikely to be appointed over you or your brother). Also, nothing about you being beneficiaries or living at the estate means that the executor needs to do it “through you.” In fact, what she’s doing, assuming no bad intentions, is pretty much how it will work if she were to be appointed. She would be in charge of selling everything and putting it in an estate account to be distributed to you later.
Most non lawyers I’ve met think that a will automatically takes affect and gives property/authority automatically. Since it sounds like she’s following the instructions, there’s a good chance that she’s just doing what she thinks she should be doing, but absolutely best to have a talk with her about it, and if she doesn’t agree to probate the will then you should 100% get a lawyer and do it yourself.