Hostile Administrator of Estate

At a loss here. Let me explain situation: mother died 9 months ago with no will, Estate worth about $300,000.. Survivors include me and 4 half-siblings (children of my mother from previous marriage). The oldest half sibling was named Adminstrator of the Estate. He solely hired an attorney (first cousin to him, no relation to me) has counselor for the Estate.

In the past 9 months, the half-siblings (including Admin) have attempted many things to alienate me: threaten via text and phone mails that I won't receive any thing from Estate...Admin has NOT kept me updated with anything to do with Estate such as filings, etc..Admin has denied every claim from me regarding personal items that I owned but were loaned to my mother before her death.... Admin has also via text messages vowed to work with his cousin Attorney to run up huge, frivelous fees again'st the Estate. All of this can be easily proven

one I item I claimed (and denied), a $400 dyson vacuum that I lent my mother...it has been given to my half-niece. My mothers car, worth maybe $16,000, was given to another half-nephew who resides in another state. It's still registered under my mothers name and the half nephew is driving it around with the original plates, insurance that has lapsed and he has no valid drivers license

I have not hired an attorney yet...most attorneys will not work for someone like me that is almost entirely penilless. Best I can do is google Iowa Estate law...where I have read that good character, integrity an unbiasness is required from an Admin of an Estate...who also can not threaten or be hostile to any beneficiaries

Again, at a loss here. Looks like it's going to be 4 against one.

Please accept my sincere condolences upon the recent passing of yoru beloved mother.

May you soon receive the peace and comfort you seek as you grieve your mother's passing.

Krista said:

Survivors include me and 4 half-siblings (children of my mother from previous marriage).

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All children born of your mother's womb, regardless of the male who fathered the child(ren) are equal in the eyes of the law, in other words there are no HALF-SONS or HALF-DAUGHTERS, only sons and daughters.

You might call her children your half-siblings, but legally you are all potential heirs.

Iowa treats "half" relatives differently than "whole" relatives.

Siblings only take from the parent that was their shared blood parent.

The estate of the parents is divided into halves, one half for each deceased parent.

For example, Ally died intestate and has a whole-blood brother Dub and a half-blood brother Carl.

They all had the same father, but Carl had a different mother than Ally.

Ally's estate is dived into two parts, one for her mother's line and one for her father's line.

The part from Ally's mother's line passes to Dub.

The part from her father's line is divided between Dub and Carl.

Dub receives 3/4 of Ally's estate and Carl receives 1/4 of the estate.

If you loaned your mother $500 last year, you would need a properly executed promissory note in order to assert a claim against the estate in an effort to seek reimbursement for same from her estate.

I suspect without the proper proof, that is why your claims are being ignored or rejected.

Krista said:

mother died 9 months ago with no will, Estate worth about $300,000

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The word "intestate" describes a person who dies without a will.

If mother died intestate, the laws of Iowa (where I graduated law school) say this is how her estate is to be distributed:

If the deceased left behind living children but had no spouse, the children will inherit the ENTIRE estate.

If there are four children, each SHOULD receive 25% of the estate, after the debts of the estate have been satisfied, assuming something remains.

With a potential pot worth $300K, I suggest you visit several local family law or will and estate attorneys to discuss if one would take your case on contingency.

Sadly, when there is a death, many relatives have the ability to become therianthropic.

I visualize them this way:

Bummer of a story.

Do you have a question for us?

Zddoodah, yes, I do have a question. Are my gripes listed above grounds to remove the current Admin of Estate?

Also, how could a new (preferrably unbiased 3rd party) Admin be appointed?

Krista said:

yes, I do have a question. Are my gripes listed above grounds to remove the current Admin of Estate?

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Ok. Let me start by pointing out that I'm not admitted to practice in Iowa and, as far as I know, none of the regulars here are attorneys admitted in Iowa.

With your question in mind, let's go back to your original post.

Krista said:

Estate worth about $300,000.

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Is this net of estate debt? In other words, is the estate's value $X minus debt = $300k, or is it $300k minus debt = $X?

Krista said:

Survivors include me and 4 half-siblings (children of my mother from previous marriage).

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Your use of the word "include" suggests there may be others. However, under Iowa law, when a person dies without a will, the net estate goes to the surviving spouse (I assume there isn't one) and/or surviving children, so any survivors other than children or a spouse would not be relevant.

Krista said:

The oldest half sibling was named Adminstrator of the Estate. He solely hired an attorney (first cousin to him, no relation to me) has counselor for the Estate.

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Just to clarify (because a lot of folks get this wrong), he was appointed by the court to be administrator. Right? Also, just to be clear, his lawyer represents him, in his capacity as administrator.

Krista said:

In the past 9 months, the half-siblings (including Admin) have attempted many things to alienate me

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The actions of "the half-siblings" are not attributable to any one of them unless that one was part of the group that took those actions. Did the administrator take any of the actions you mentioned?

Krista said:

Admin has NOT kept me updated with anything to do with Estate such as filings, etc.

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Generally, the administrator has no duty to keep heirs updated about the administration of the estate informed aside from accountings, which are not typically required more frequently than annually.

Krista said:

Admin has denied every claim from me regarding personal items that I owned but were loaned to my mother before her death.

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Do you have any evidence that the items in question were yours?

Krista said:

Admin has also via text messages vowed to work with his cousin Attorney to run up huge, frivelous fees again'st the Estate.

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The attorney for the administrator is typically paid a percentage of the estate value and, in any case, the amount paid is subject to approval by the court. That said, messages of this sort would not look good if offered into evidence.

Krista said:

one I item I claimed (and denied), a $400 dyson vacuum that I lent my mother...it has been given to my half-niece. My mothers car, worth maybe $16,000, was given to another half-nephew

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This is probably improper.

Getting back to your question, threatening to run up big fees and distributing assets prematurely might be enough to get the administrator removed. The only way to get a reliable assessment of this would be to consult with an Iowa probate attorney. Generally speaking, courts give preference to family members when it comes to appointing an administrator, and unrelated neutral administrators are typically much more expensive.

zddoodah said:

I know, none of the regulars here are attorneys admitted in Iowa.

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Au contraire, mon ami.

I graduated from an Iowa law school 46 years ago, and was admitted to the bar upon recommendation of the law school faculty and dean.