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My Mom's Estate----Attorney problems
Crazy Cooter:
I don't know how it works in PA, but here if someone passes without a will, the debts are paid first, then the taxman gets his, then everything is assigned a value and divided equally between the immediate family (in your case I *think* it would only be split 3-ways). For someone to inhabit the house, they would have to make arrangements with the others to get/buy their "share".
I also believe there is a time limit on this stuff, so you may want to reconsider getting an attorney (I'd recommend getting one in PA). No news is BAD news with stuff like this. There's a reason they're not keeping you involved.
stevejt:
Why don't you call a few different attourneys. They all give free consultations. Even if you don't hire one, they will tell you what rights you have to know what's going on, and what rights you have to be included since there was no will. Make sure you call more than one, in case some leave out different things. Any decent attourney will also tell you exactly what YOU can do on your own, without an attourney. Since there was no will and the State is handling it, all actions should be public information. Make sure you call attourneys that are local to where the estate is. As for the Attourney General, I am sure they are all different. But I emailed my office, and mailed several different questions about rights, and laws with absolutely no returns whatsoever. Except for the automated email reply that they received my email.
Good Luck!
Steve
Arcadiac:
Cooter you are probably right, unfortunately there is no money to hire a lawyer either in PA or here, I'm on disability and have little spare money.
APFelon:
I can't offer any legal advice, but these stories remided me of when my grandfather passed. My grandparents lived their lives in a town in southwest Missouri. My grandfather's great-great grandfather founded an old mining town, but despite this legacy, they were not wealthy people. My grandfather was crushed by an unexploded shell on a destroyer while serving in the Pacific theatre during World War II, which permanantly disabled him. He lived the rest of his life selling used cars. They lived in the same prefab house for what's going on fifty five years.
Despite his disability and constant medical issues, he lived to a ripe 85 years. When he died, a family member sacked the house. He took antique shotguns, tools, glassware, knick knacks, photographs, and other valuables... while my grandmother was still alive and in the house.
My grandfather used to collect pennies for me, roll them, and keep them in his sock drawer until my next visit, a practice he did since the day I was born. The relative took those, too. My grandmother was so apologetic. "He took your pennies. I told him that they were yours, but he took them anyway". It was only about 15$ worth of pennies, so it didn't exactly put me in the poor house, but it just seemed so... smarmy and uncharacteristic of this family member.
Of late, my grandmother has been feeling ill. We have a different family member now "casing the joint" for stuff she can sell on Ebay. To say I am disgusted would be a gross understatement. It's not that I want to reap the financial benefits of my grandmother's pending demise (the only thing I want from her estate is one of the many small paintings she did after her retirement, which has no value to anyone outside of the family), it's (like you said) that greed and the vulture-like behavior of people you thought you knew is genuinely repulsive.
I made a promise to myself that I would never behave that way should I outlive my parents. "Things" just aren't worth it. I just figure that a time of loss is not a time to think about gain. How will I benefit from getting that cedar box full of silverware? That television set? It's merely baubles and trinkets. I can live without them, just as I have prior to my grandparent's death. A few hundred dollars worth of crap isn't worth the endless family hassles.
Of course, this is my own personal take on a similar situation, and I am not trying to condemn you or what you are trying to do with your mother's estate. This thread was merely a catalyst for my thoughts on some personal current events, nothing more.
Good luck to you on whatever decisions you make, and may the outcome be pleasant.
APf
Crazy Cooter:
--- Quote from: Arcadiac on March 16, 2005, 11:40:18 am ---BTW, the court already authorized my bro's purchase of the house, the Catch-22 being that as executor he is paying himself for it.
--- End quote ---