We'll Get It Before WE'RE Dead, Right?
August 28, 2010 6:50 AM
YANML filter: my grandfather's estate should be settled; have we all been waiting too long for his funds to be paid out, or is this normal?
My grandfather died in 2007, leaving my mother and three siblings as the beneficiaries. We all knew about this already, and the next few years were tied up with them all cleaning out his house and selling things, and also clearing up the weird interpersonal sibling stuff so that they could be past it all when they finally did turn the will over to the laywers. That process got all finished up this March, when my brother finally bought Grandpa's house. But -- we still haven't seen any of the funds.
I admit I don't know thing 1 about law, but it seems to me that this should be a straightforward process -- here's the money, here's the people who get it, here's the will that tells how to split it up. So I'm not sure why it's been five months already and the lawyers are still working on paperwork. It also seems to be a pretty straightforward settlement as far as things go.
The only anomolies I can think of:
1. Part of the estate includes an existing business -- an active cranberry bog (if you've had Ocean Spray products in the past 80 years, at some point you probably consumed something my family grew). But there's an existing manager, and the will explains how the proceeds are to be distributed, and everyone is on the same page about how the business is conducted, so that sounds straightforward to me.
2. Yeah, my brother is the one who bought Grandpa's house. But as far as I know, he paid market value and went through the bank as if it were a house he were buying from a stranger, so there was no "family discount" or back-room thing going on. I suppose someone who was a real stickler could want to make a case for investigating whether everyone lowballed the sale, but everyone's paperwork (my brother's bid to the bank, mortage application, etc.) should more than disprove that.
3. My uncle did get a couple of advances on whatever his share of the payout would be so he could pay for my cousin's wedding this month. That probably is holding things up a bit, but...how much?
Basically, I'm just wondering if there's any reason to believe that this is taking too long for some weird reason, or if this is all par for the course with this sort of thing.
My grandfather died in 2007, leaving my mother and three siblings as the beneficiaries. We all knew about this already, and the next few years were tied up with them all cleaning out his house and selling things, and also clearing up the weird interpersonal sibling stuff so that they could be past it all when they finally did turn the will over to the laywers. That process got all finished up this March, when my brother finally bought Grandpa's house. But -- we still haven't seen any of the funds.
I admit I don't know thing 1 about law, but it seems to me that this should be a straightforward process -- here's the money, here's the people who get it, here's the will that tells how to split it up. So I'm not sure why it's been five months already and the lawyers are still working on paperwork. It also seems to be a pretty straightforward settlement as far as things go.
The only anomolies I can think of:
1. Part of the estate includes an existing business -- an active cranberry bog (if you've had Ocean Spray products in the past 80 years, at some point you probably consumed something my family grew). But there's an existing manager, and the will explains how the proceeds are to be distributed, and everyone is on the same page about how the business is conducted, so that sounds straightforward to me.
2. Yeah, my brother is the one who bought Grandpa's house. But as far as I know, he paid market value and went through the bank as if it were a house he were buying from a stranger, so there was no "family discount" or back-room thing going on. I suppose someone who was a real stickler could want to make a case for investigating whether everyone lowballed the sale, but everyone's paperwork (my brother's bid to the bank, mortage application, etc.) should more than disprove that.
3. My uncle did get a couple of advances on whatever his share of the payout would be so he could pay for my cousin's wedding this month. That probably is holding things up a bit, but...how much?
Basically, I'm just wondering if there's any reason to believe that this is taking too long for some weird reason, or if this is all par for the course with this sort of thing.
My father's estate took around two years to settle, though most of the funds had been distributed long before then. Does the estate need to file an estate tax return, by any chance? Especially with a business to be valued, that can be a time-consuming process.
posted by magicbus at 7:01 AM on August 28, 2010
posted by magicbus at 7:01 AM on August 28, 2010
If they only started in March, then no, this is not running late at all. We're in this process with my grandmother's estate; my mother's lawyer told her that it would take a minimum of six months to distribute, but a year to eighteen months was even more likely.
posted by thomas j wise at 7:05 AM on August 28, 2010
posted by thomas j wise at 7:05 AM on August 28, 2010
It varies by state how long it takes, but a year is pretty average.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 7:10 AM on August 28, 2010
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 7:10 AM on August 28, 2010
If you are a beneficiary of the will, it might seem like things are going slow or nothing is going on, but the executor of the will is busy as hell with absurd minutiae and paperwork hassles that take a long time to pan out. There are a lot of hoops to jump through... the particular hoop that jumps some cash to you is one of them, but it is one of many and a lot of other issues come before it. EVERYTHING needs to be nailed down before final disbursements are made.
If nothing's changed a year from now, inquire politely as to what is going on. In the meantime, let the executor do their job.
posted by foobario at 8:19 AM on August 28, 2010
If nothing's changed a year from now, inquire politely as to what is going on. In the meantime, let the executor do their job.
posted by foobario at 8:19 AM on August 28, 2010
There may be several factors holding up settlement of the estate. One is that you went in and started "cleaning out his house and selling things" without first filing for probate. While you may have known about who gets what, the court does not look kindly on people stepping in and converting assets to cash before there is official recognition of the decedent's last wishes. The court usually wants to give permission to dispose of assets before letting anyone, including the executor, start doing things. Second, this is not a typical three-books-and-a-toaster estate. The business needs to be valued for tax purposes and the court has to approve the disposition of the stock. A year or two from when "when they finally did turn the will over to the laywers." may not be too long at all.
posted by Old Geezer at 9:02 AM on August 28, 2010
posted by Old Geezer at 9:02 AM on August 28, 2010
I work for an estate attorney (in NYS) and favorited foobario's answer. My experience is that even the easiest, most straight-forward of estates (that don't include businesses or houses) take at least six months to release funds to distributees.
posted by Lucinda at 9:07 AM on August 28, 2010
posted by Lucinda at 9:07 AM on August 28, 2010
There is an executor. Call the executor and say "How's everything going w/ getting the estate settled? I'm making some financial decisions, and it would be helpful to know when you expect the estate to be settled. Thanks."
It's likely that everything is legit, but maybe there's been a legal snag. You have every right to know. It all goes more smoothly if you start with the assumption that everything is good, and just ask for info.
Your brother, and the estate, likely benefited from not paying commission on the house, so that should have been win:win.
posted by theora55 at 9:11 AM on August 28, 2010
It's likely that everything is legit, but maybe there's been a legal snag. You have every right to know. It all goes more smoothly if you start with the assumption that everything is good, and just ask for info.
Your brother, and the estate, likely benefited from not paying commission on the house, so that should have been win:win.
posted by theora55 at 9:11 AM on August 28, 2010
Nothing about settling estates is "straightforward" ever - there can be any number of points at which it will take time to move forward. As suggested by others in this thread, you are well within your rights to contact the executor/trix and politely ask about the status of probate. Remember, too, that attorneys often work on multiple cases at once, so from your perspective things might move slowly while from their perspective things are moving along at a typical pace, especially when there are multiple levels of liquidation going on (house sale, business assets, etc.).
Patience is a requirement I'm afraid.
posted by kuppajava at 10:20 AM on August 28, 2010
Patience is a requirement I'm afraid.
posted by kuppajava at 10:20 AM on August 28, 2010
I'll admit I don't know too many details, but I'm assuming my father is executor -- but I'm basing this solely on the knowledge that my father has been appointed to be the one to call the lawyers and ask "uh, any word yet?" because he seems to be most able to be polite when doing so.
On the cleaning-out-the-house -- this wasn't so much of a "get rid of stuff quick before anyone gets it," as much as a "we need to get the house ready to sell." The house stood empty for two years before it went on the market, because my mom and aunts and uncles wanted to make sure everyone had a chance to go through everything and lay claim to any specific items they wanted. That side of things has been very open and up-front and peaceful and no-contest; most everyone had enough THING-things anyway, and the bulk of what everyone wanted was only small sentimental stuff, or an occasional specific furniture piece -- an aunt is getting a dish hutch, and I've laid claim to a piano (against the day when I have an apartment FOR it). Grandma had a lot of antiques, but no one else in the family gives two craps about it, so everyone agreed to just sell it. We had to also get rid of some moldy furniture in the basement as well that no one in their right mind would have paid two cents for. That's the kind of thing I mean when I say "go through the things" -- letting everyone call dibs on things first before we called the antiques appraiser and the junk store, because we needed to do that to put the house on the market.
It had been on the market for a year before my brother finally bought it (he'd initially been looking elsewhere anyway, and using the house as a temporary home while he looked, but once his family had been living there a year and were pretty dug in, he and his wife just shrugged and said "it's fate" and bought it.
It sounds, though, like this is the kind of thing that just always takes about a year no matter what. Which is unfortunate (my father's already told my brother and me what he'll be doing for us, and I could REALLY use that money), but...nothing to be done about it, it sounds. Fair enough; thanks.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:35 AM on August 28, 2010
On the cleaning-out-the-house -- this wasn't so much of a "get rid of stuff quick before anyone gets it," as much as a "we need to get the house ready to sell." The house stood empty for two years before it went on the market, because my mom and aunts and uncles wanted to make sure everyone had a chance to go through everything and lay claim to any specific items they wanted. That side of things has been very open and up-front and peaceful and no-contest; most everyone had enough THING-things anyway, and the bulk of what everyone wanted was only small sentimental stuff, or an occasional specific furniture piece -- an aunt is getting a dish hutch, and I've laid claim to a piano (against the day when I have an apartment FOR it). Grandma had a lot of antiques, but no one else in the family gives two craps about it, so everyone agreed to just sell it. We had to also get rid of some moldy furniture in the basement as well that no one in their right mind would have paid two cents for. That's the kind of thing I mean when I say "go through the things" -- letting everyone call dibs on things first before we called the antiques appraiser and the junk store, because we needed to do that to put the house on the market.
It had been on the market for a year before my brother finally bought it (he'd initially been looking elsewhere anyway, and using the house as a temporary home while he looked, but once his family had been living there a year and were pretty dug in, he and his wife just shrugged and said "it's fate" and bought it.
It sounds, though, like this is the kind of thing that just always takes about a year no matter what. Which is unfortunate (my father's already told my brother and me what he'll be doing for us, and I could REALLY use that money), but...nothing to be done about it, it sounds. Fair enough; thanks.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:35 AM on August 28, 2010
First, the laws in each state are different. Not all that different, but different enough that your state will be different than mine. Most states have a time limit from when the will is entered into probate to the time of distribution. In most it is two years. But many of these things you can find out on line or through your state bar, or a good estate attorney will often answer preliminary questions over the phone--I say this through the experience of calling two in my state & two in IL to answer some questions, and I offered to pay up front for the advice; they declined and gave me the advice, which checked out against each other, too.
Now, all of the assets of the estate have to be disposed before the estate can be closed, and yes, there is some time to do that. But you say you need money now. The executor is either an estate attorney, or someone in your family who should by now have retained an estate attorney to handle all of the filings and paperwork. Find out who the executor is and ask them if a "per stirpes" distribution can be made. Basically, what this is is a partial distribution against your future distribution. All parties to the inheritance of the estate have to agree (the per stirpes part), but it is pretty normal, especially if by now the total to be distributed is pretty well known.
It's like a cash advance, except you don;t have to pay it back, it just comes out of your future distribution. It doesn't hurt to talk to the other parties to let them know why you are asking for this.
And may it go better for you than it did for me. The executor of my relative's estate acted imperiously and I had to threaten to have this person replaced as executor to get the advance that kept me from filing for bankruptcy, since everyone else agreed to the distribution.
posted by beelzbubba at 4:51 PM on August 28, 2010
Now, all of the assets of the estate have to be disposed before the estate can be closed, and yes, there is some time to do that. But you say you need money now. The executor is either an estate attorney, or someone in your family who should by now have retained an estate attorney to handle all of the filings and paperwork. Find out who the executor is and ask them if a "per stirpes" distribution can be made. Basically, what this is is a partial distribution against your future distribution. All parties to the inheritance of the estate have to agree (the per stirpes part), but it is pretty normal, especially if by now the total to be distributed is pretty well known.
It's like a cash advance, except you don;t have to pay it back, it just comes out of your future distribution. It doesn't hurt to talk to the other parties to let them know why you are asking for this.
And may it go better for you than it did for me. The executor of my relative's estate acted imperiously and I had to threaten to have this person replaced as executor to get the advance that kept me from filing for bankruptcy, since everyone else agreed to the distribution.
posted by beelzbubba at 4:51 PM on August 28, 2010
I actually don't NEED the money, it'd just be helpful. (I'm putting it all towards a credit card I've been trying to pay down, and it would do it all in one fell swoop; but I am able to make payments each month without it for a whie longer.) And it's not so much a straight payout direct from the will -- more like a general "each of the four siblings gets a chunk o'change and they distribute it to the grandchildren as they see fit," and Mom and Dad have already told me and my brother how they're seeing fit, we're just waiting for it. I technically am not an officially-named recipient IN the will.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:54 PM on August 28, 2010
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:54 PM on August 28, 2010
Just as a point for future readers of this question, our office has been waiting for three weeks for the Surrogate's Court to issue us our letters testamentary (the forms that officially give the Executor the power to begin estate proceedings). They're just *very* backed up.
posted by Lucinda at 9:02 AM on December 3, 2010
posted by Lucinda at 9:02 AM on December 3, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by hansbrough at 7:00 AM on August 28, 2010