Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with estates

Wills and estates lawyer in Vancouver

russilwvong — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:05:34 -0800

Looking for a good lawyer in Vancouver, BC, specializing in wills and estates, to revise our wills and give us more general legal advice about estate planning. How should we go about this, and what criteria should we use? (My wife and I are early 40s, two children under 10, middle class.)

Is my mother's estate being scammed?

forthright — Thu, 08 May 2008 18:10:43 -0800

Medical insurance paperwork still coming in 9 months after my mother passed away. My mother passed away when she was living in a nursing home the end of September 2007. Ever since then I have been receiving explanation of benefits letters from Blue Cross/Blue Shield and Medicare. I can certainly understand bills for the date she was rushed to the emergency room, and for some a month or two prior that had just been working their way through the system.

But I am still getting bills from dates prior to the date she died. How do I know if this is fraud? Who would remember what was or was not done that long ago, and obviously the patient cannot be asked. It seems unlikely an xray lab or psychiatrist could take 9 or 10 months to get around to submitting a bill. The whole thing seems fishy.

Up until now it has been academic because the bills showed nothing due from the estate. The last couple amount to a few hundred dollars supposedly being owed, and are from August 2007.

Has anyone else run into this with their deceased loved ones? I tried doing the following MeFi search and did not see anything that sounded like my situation: "deceased bills insurance nursing home".

Has anyone ever complained and if so, to whom?

Thanks in advance for any advice. As you can imagine this is a little more emotional than your average unexpected mail, since it brings me back to a time I was trying to get over.

Legal advice for screwed beneficiary

aleahey — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 17:11:38 -0800

Estate disbursement question -- screwed? Long story short.

My mother's sister died in 2005. She had an IRA. Her death, followed by other events, left my mother and her surviving sister not on speaking terms.

This sister is the executor of the will.

Deceased sister had an IRA account. It has been discovered that the surviving sister's lawyer put the IRA funds in to my Mother's name, and then withdrew the money. Thus sticking my Mother with the taxes on a sum she did not in fact receive.

I realize that a lawyer has to be brought in to this, we are working on that now, but I'm wondering if any MeFiers might have some tips, ideas, anything as to what our recourse could be.

Everywhere we go -- the bank to try to find out who withdrew the funds/how/etc, essentially says that only the executor of the will can receive this information.

Are we screwed?
How did this happen? Is it legal?
How can this all have happened when the estate is supposedly not yet settled?

Thanks to anyone who might have some insight, I/we really appreciate it.

Revocable trust busting

Anonymous — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 07:37:58 -0800

Is it easy to break a revocable trust? Someone who is related to us through marriage, not through blood, has left us a large portion of an estate by means of a revocable trust. Someone who IS related to this person by blood has come forward, is insinuating that we have no right to the estate and has hired an attorney. This blood relative was despised by the decedent and was deliberately excluded from the trust. This has already been traumatic as the death was unexpected and the consequences life-changing for us. Is it easy to break a trust? Are we in for a long, painful, expensive and emotional battle? Any advice?

What to do when a parent squanders inheritance designated for both of you?

Anonymous — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 06:27:09 -0800

Inheritance question: what can you do when a parent backs away from a signed agreement to distribute funds? Background:
My grandmother passed in June; I was a lot more devastated about that than I was worried about inheritance. But I knew what was coming, and my father had for a year before she died made clear how he'd split the funds: 200k for him, 150k for me. Her will made it clear that her grandchildren receive funds, but was not explicit because when it was written she wasn't aware of the exact numbers. So, throughout the process, my father committed time and time again to that split, and in August the first 100k came, which helped me buy a house. The remaining 50k would arrive once bank accounts were closed out, etc.

As a part of the mortgage, the bank requested a signed document from my father indicating the split, and since my credit was absolutely abysmal, the 150 number was critically important to the underwriters so I could pay off debts. He signed it, and has repeatedly been reminded by myself and my uncle [executor] of how to make the split, since he's an alcoholic and appears to be aloof most of the time. The reminders were needed because there was no way to avoid the checks being made out to him, and it was his responsibility that he distribute as agreed.

Well, yesterday he said the checks were coming, and that he'd give me 1k. When I asked about the timing of the remainder, he scoffed and said I was daydreaming. He said he'd never said anything of the sort and that he needed it all for his retirement (he wants to retire to the Bahamas and is already getting a huge package from his company). I told him about the agreement he signed and he blew it off and hung up on me.

My family has documented that he twice has absorbed inheritance from other relatives designated to me, both of which were before I was 18 and of which no traces were left behind. Now, I'm in my 30somethings and despite the rough past we've had we have a decent relationship. My grandmother and I were very close and she made it clear that I was to be included. This certainly confounds things.

I don't know what to do... I've called my uncle, and most of the time there is no way to reason with my father. My uncle is aligned toward me since he knows about my father's past squandering and, of course, the drinking. His alcoholism ensures that he lives in a tightly controlled reality bubble and he's famously dissociative. Do I get a lawyer (ugly option)? Do I try to reason with him in person with my uncle there?

Because of the withholding, I'm beginning to tank financially. I can't afford my car payments and mortgage together, and with student loans looming and lots of medical debt, this new twist is scaring the bejeezus out of me.

Thanks in advance for your help; I can be reached at anonymous.mofo@gmail.com for follow up.

How to keep inheritance fair?

tristeza — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 14:02:46 -0800

Please help me make a proposal to my family about the fate of my parents’ home that is equitable and reasonable and doesn’t make me seem like a greedy jerkface. My parents own a (kind of junky) condo in a very expensive town. They paid an incredibly low price for it, let’s say $150,000. Its market value right now, with no improvements, is about $300,000. With improvements it could sell for maybe $400,000.

This condo is the only asset my parents have, and makes up the entirety of their “estate.” No one wants it to leave the family in the foreseeable future.

My folks are moving to Florida and are considering selling the condo to my brother (who would live there) for something less than market value, and using that money to buy a place in FL. I cannot afford to “go in” with my brother to purchase it with him. It would be 100% his.

My interpretation of this is that if this happens, I am out any inheritance I might have had, and any possible profit I could have made on the place if my brother and I were co-owners and sold it at some point.

So, my question is this: what sort of compromise could I propose to my family? How could there be a share between the 3 parties that gives my parents some $ to move, gives my brother a place to live and some equity, keeps the home in the family, and doesn’t leave me totally out in the cold? Is this impossible?

Thanks, all.

It's time for the partner and I to set up wills. I need clarification about what we might need, and recommendations about what software to use.

misanthropicsarah — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 10:53:40 -0800

It's time for the partner and I to set up wills. We've never done this before, and our "estates" aren't worth the cost of going to a lawyer. I need clarification about what we might need, and recommendations about what software to use. I have seen this and this.

We're both in our mid-twenties, in Philadelphia, PA, not married (what with the gay), and don't have any assets to speak of besides some very small retirement accounts. We're both in decent enough health.

What we want is a document that defines who gets what in terms of any property and money if the other passes away, as well as document that says who gets to decide to "pull the plug" and make the funeral (or whatever) arrangements for the other.

Since we're not married, we don't automatically have these kinds of "death bed" rights, and we want to make sure we have the proper documents to ensure we get them if we should ever need them.

I think that we need both a will and testament and a living will, but I'm not positive.

Is there any software out there that will help us create a will and a living will if it turns out that's what we need?

Thanks for any input!

I appreciate it, but please don't tell us to just see a lawyer. The finances just don't make that possible right now.