No one is moving forward

[old_tn_man@yahoo]

Jurisdiction

Indiana

My Mother passed away in February with no will. This left my sister, step father and I as heirs. However, my stepfather has not started an estate. He wanted to do an unsupervised estate which my sister and I both were uncomfortable with. The attorney my step father employed said we had the right not to sign for an unsupervised estate and that a supervised estate would be opened. This was in June and nothing has been done. The last time the lawyer responded to my inquires (inquires were made via phone and email) was August 11th where she responded that no estate would be opened. I have contacted all the attorneys in this small rural area but none are willing to open the estate. What advice could you give as to what I need to do next. Should I contact the judge? Or………. Please advise. Thank you.

 

[zddoodah]

My Mother passed away in February with no will. This left my sister, step father and I as heirs.

Let's get a few things out of the way right off the bat:

• What are the most significant assets owned by your mother?
• Of the assets mentioned in response to the prior question, were any of them owned jointly with your stepfather as joint tenants or as tenants by the entirety?
• Of the assets mentioned in response to the first question, were any of the held in trust or in an account that designated a pay-on-death beneficiary?
• What is the value of the assets mentioned in your response to the first question, but excluding assets held jointly (second question) or in trust or which had a POD beneficiary (third question)? To the extent there is real estate involved, please mention both the fair market value of the property and also the amount of any mortgages and other encumbrances.
• How much debt did your mother have at the time of her death?
• Please confirm that, at the time of her death, your mother was a resident of Indiana.

my stepfather has not started an estate.

Meaning he hasn't filed to probate the estate.

He wanted to do an unsupervised estate which my sister and I both were uncomfortable with.

Why?

I have contacted all the attorneys in this small rural area but none are willing to open the estate.

Does the highlighted part mean that you offered to pay these lawyers to represent you in an action whereby you seek to probate the estate? If so, what reasons did they offer? If not, what does it mean?

What advice could you give as to what I need to do next.

Answer the questions I asked. Please answer each one as succinctly as possible. Once you do that, I or someone else may be able to point you in the right direction.

 

[old_tn_man@yahoo]

Zddooday said:

Let's get a few things out of the way right off the bat:

• What are the most significant assets owned by your mother? 2 vehicles, a home and land, coin collection, vintage radio collection, some vintage guns passed down through family
• Of the assets mentioned in response to the prior question, were any of them owned jointly with your stepfather as joint tenants or as tenants by the entirety? They were not owned jointly. As a matter of fact the vehicles were in her name only, the home in her and a previous spouses name (who died), the land is yet another dead spouse and her name. This was step father #5
• Of the assets mentioned in response to the first question, were any of the held in trust or in an account that designated a pay-on-death beneficiary? No they were not. This was discovered when the step father tried to transfer the titles of the vehicles and was denied. This opened the can of estate worms.
• What is the value of the assets mentioned in your response to the first question, but excluding assets held jointly (second question) or in trust or which had a POD beneficiary (third question)? To the extent there is real estate involved, please mention both the fair market value of the property and also the amount of any mortgages and other encumbrances. Roughly 100,000$ at the time of her death the estate threshold was $50,000
• How much debt did your mother have at the time of her death? None that we are currently aware of
• Please confirm that, at the time of her death, your mother was a resident of Indiana. Yes she was and had been for probably close to 40 years.

Meaning he hasn't filed to probate the estate. No he has not, I suspect that without starting an estate it's status quo living and things are fine with him that way.

Why? Concerns were raised when he left the day immediately after my mother was placed on end of life protocols to go to the bank. This and the run around excuses that have been given as to why no proceedings have been started. (Despite offering to help in any way we can) it is also complicated by our mother's lack of legal "house cleaning" when her other husbands passed because multiple names are on multiple assets and we aren't sure if other folks have legal claim and want to make sure it's all done legally and correctly to clean up the mess.

Does the highlighted part mean that you offered to pay these lawyers to represent you in an action whereby you seek to probate the estate? If so, what reasons did they offer? If not, what does it mean? Yes we did. Most claimed to have too many current cases while a couple refused based on associations with our stepfather.

Answer the questions I asked. Please answer each one as succinctly as possible. Once you do that, I or someone else may be able to point you in the right direction.

(Moderator's note - Edited to differentiate between the questions and the answers.

 

[adjusterjack]

What advice could you give as to what I need to do next. Should I contact the judge? Or………. Please advise. Thank you.

Contacting the judge is not proper procedure and he won't be able to do anything without an open probate file anyway.

You can open probate yourself by filling out some forms, paying some fees to the court, submitting the death certificate, and asking to be appointed representative of the estate.

Check your probate court for forms and instructions.

Once you are appointed representative of the estate you can take control of your mother's assets and you'll have the power of the court behind you to enforce proper probate.

 

[zddoodah]

the home in her and a previous spouses name (who died), the land is yet another dead spouse and her name.

First of all, unless the home is a mobile home, there is no separateness between a home and the land on which it sits (or maybe you're talking about two separate pieces of property). Second, if the deeds indicate joint tenancy or tenants by the entirety, then your mother succeeded to the deceased spouses' interests. However, if it was something else, this potentially creates significant complications.

With that said, if the stepfather is not seeking to probate the estate, then you have two choices: (1) accept that and move on; or (2) hire an attorney to probate the estate. If you cannot find a lawyer "in th[e] small rural area" where your mother lived who is willing to take the case, then you'll have to go outside that area. I don't live in Indiana, but a map tells me that there's nowhere in the state that's all that far away from the 4-5 biggest cities (Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, Evansville, South Bend, etc.), and geographic proximity to where your mother lived isn't all that important since most courts take e-filing these days.

Contacting the judge is not proper procedure and he won't be able to do anything with an open probate file anyway.

I think you meant "without," and I agree.

 

[adjusterjack]

Yes, "without."