forging an official document

[Sherry W. Goutremout]

Jurisdiction

New York

I am in NYS. My mother passed away in February of this year. I have received a form A-8 from the estate attorney for me to sign and return approving my brother as administrator of the estate. Instead of waiting to be appointed administrator to handle things legally my brother had his wife forge my mother`s name to her NYS vehicle title and pre-date it before her death so that it could be registered to my sister who needed a car. No money changed hands. I am hesitant to sign and return the form A-8 because of the forgery and the trust lost in my brother handling the estate. Should I just not sign the paperwork, should I hire an attorney, should I tell the estate lawyer about the forgery, just not sure what to do. Any advice would be appreciated. BTW my mother`s last will and testament was signed but not dated with no witnesses or notary.
Thank You

 

[zddoodah]

I have received a form A-8 from the estate attorney for me to sign and return approving my brother as administrator of the estate.

Just to be clear, I believe that, when you refer to "the estate attorney," you are referring to a lawyer hired by your brother to represent him in his capacity as (proposed) administrator of your mother's estate. Correct? Is your brother nominated in your mother's will to be administrator?

Should I just not sign the paperwork, should I hire an attorney, should I tell the estate lawyer about the forgery, just not sure what to do.

None of the anonymous strangers who post here, who have only the most limited information about the situation, can render an intelligent opinion about this.

BTW my mother`s last will and testament was signed but not dated with no witnesses or notary.

The lack of notarization is meaningless, but the lack of witnesses renders the will defective. Does the will provide that your share or your brother's share would be different than if the estate were divided as if she didn't have a will?

 

[Sherry W. Goutremout]

The will does say my brother is the one to be nominated as admin. And yes the estate attorney is the one hired by him. There are five surviving children. The only valuable assets are the house and land which the will states that he gets. No other children are named in the will. My only concern is him being approved as administrator because of the forgery.

 

[Zigner]

The will does say my brother is the one to be nominated as admin. And yes the estate attorney is the one hired by him. There are five surviving children. The only valuable assets are the house and land which the will states that he gets. No other children are named in the will. My only concern is him being approved as administrator because of the forgery.

If the will is defective, then the house and land should be distributed as if she had no will. Do you have any objection to him receiving the house and land? Do you have any objection to sister receiving the car?

 

[Sherry W. Goutremout]

If the house and land are to be distributed as if there was no will then yes I have a problem with just him getting it. I don`t have a problem with my sister getting the car. Let me say again that my problem is with my mother`s name being forged when it didn`t have to be.

 

[zddoodah]

The only valuable assets are the house and land which the will states that he gets. No other children are named in the will. My only concern is him being approved as administrator because of the forgery.

If I were you, I'd seek a consultation with an attorney. If, as it appears, the will is defective, then the estate ought to be divided between the surviving siblings (as opposed to only one of them receiving the "only valuable assets."

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

But would an action such as this done after death make the will defective?

 

[army judge]

But would an action such as this done after death make the will defective?

It seems to me that proving the date of the alleged fraud would be harder than proving the fraud.

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

It seems to me that proving the date of the alleged fraud would be harder than proving the fraud.

I guess my question is the fraud has nothing to do with the will itself. It was an action taken by the nominated administrator of the estate. I couldn't find anything in the OP that inferred the will itself was defective. It seems that even if the court found the nominated administrator guilty of fraud and said he couldn't be the administrator another would be named and the will instructions followed.

 

[Sherry W. Goutremout]

We (the family) had a meeting to discuss plans for the burial service and a discussion was started by my sister as to when she could register the car and my brother who is the nominated administrator said to give him the paperwork and he would get it taken care of and get it dropped off to the DMV in the drop box because in person visits were not allowed because of covid. The day of the burial service my daughter and I got a dealer plate to take the car to the cemetery because it was my mother`s pride and joy. My sister said that she thought the registration and plates would have been in the mail by then but they weren`t. I asked my sister how she was able to register it without the proper paperwork from the court and she said that our brother (the nominated administrator) had his wife forge our mother`s name to the title and paperwork and predate it before her death. This admission was made to me in front of my daughter.

 

[zddoodah]

But would an action such as this done after death make the will defective?

Such an action as what?

The will is potentially defective because, as noted in the original post, it "was signed . . . with no witnesses. . . ." The OP has not made any allegation that this will was created or signed after death, and the alleged forgery on the vehicle title document has nothing to do with the validity of the will.

I couldn't find anything in the OP that inferred the will itself was defective.

How about this?

my mother`s last will and testament was signed but not dated with no witnesses

 

[adjusterjack]

BTW my mother`s last will and testament was signed but not dated with no witnesses or notary.

If you, or anybody else, is thinking that a handwritten will (if it was handwritten) is valid in your mother's case, it isn't.

See NY Estates, Powers & Trusts Section 3-2.2:

New York Consolidated Laws, Estates, Powers & Trusts Law - EPT §3-2.2 | NY State Senate (nysenate.gov)