In 2014, a close friend died and I was one of several benefactors of her will. Each and every month I’ve been receiving a statement of the probate progress by email. This whole process has, thus far, not yet been completed (no final pay-outs) after 10 years. I am the only benefactor who is not an American resident, living permanently Europe.
In April of 2022, I wrote to the financial company – (initials MF in San Jose, California) – dealing with the probate, about my concerns over what appeared to be an inordinate delay with the final payment distributions. I was told by MF that they were administering Jane Doe’s Trust – not an estate.
“The Trust holds a 50% interest in New York, and while the beneficiary of that asset is Stanford University, we are unable to close the trust as it was written. It is our intention to bifurcate the Trust, separating the real estate FBO: Stanford University. I am working on a first and final accounting for the Trust, and will be distributing that to all beneficiaries. At that point we wil also make final cash distributions.”
Does this whole affair appear to be one major paper-shuffling process? Each statement details the monthly deductions that are applied, and there are many such deductions. I’m bewildered by this whole event and I don’t know where to turn in order to authenticate what I’m being told.
John Doe
MF Asset Manager (San Jose)
Location: Dublin, Ireland
Comments
She might have left all of most of her money to a trust, particularly if she had a lot of it. There’s no hard deadline on how long a particular trust can hold money. 10 years is an unusually long time to wind up an estate, but not unprecedented for an extremely large and complex one.
If it’s enough money to be worth fighting over, you will need to hire a probate attorney in the county where the will is being probated to represent your interests and ensure everything is being done properly. If you know other beneficiaries who are similarly situated, you can ask about sharing representation and cost.