I have a friend whose father passed away about 10 years ago.
Out of the blue she mentioned to me that her dad had a bunch of stocks & an IRA that was supposed to be split between her & her brother.
He also had a life insurance policy. She said she received the check for 1/2 of his life insurance, 1/2 of his bank account & 1/2 from the sale of his house, however, she does not believe she received 1/2 of the stock & IRA.
Her brother is the executor of the will & she absolutely refuses to contact him. They have a strained relationship & have not spoken in a decade.
How would she find out if she was given everything her dad left for her?
Could she call the attorney that originally handled her dad's estate?
It's been around 10 years - would he still be responsible for handling the estate or have any record of it?
He lived & passed in New Jersey if that makes any difference.
Thanks in advance for you time & help with this matter!
Originally Posted by Brooke Wilde
two things.
first why did this woman wait 10 years to decide she didn't get all she was entitled to? i don't care about her strained relationship. if her brother won't respond a lawyer can make him respond.
now, she's probably outside any statutes of limitation to make a claim. depends on the state. don't know what NJ's laws are. that's what a lawyer is for.
second, her father made the brother executor. was that a good move? maybe, maybe not. a neutral party would have been a better choice. that said, everything an executor does is subject to approval and review by the probate court. so everything he filed is on record. including the all important declaration of settlement which must be approved by a judge. if he lied then he committed a crime (civil at least possibly criminal) by knowingly defrauding the probate court.
she states that the brother was executor yet there was a lawyer involved. the lawyer is certainly a place to start but all he can do is report what the brother told him. a lawyer should have been executor to ensure all assets were divided equally.
the father made a potentially biased decision to appoint the brother as executor (maybe he wanted that?) and the sister waited probably way too late to challenge the probate court's final ruling.
she's probably shit outta luck.