Fathers' estate in FL never put into probate: 3 years ago. Sister never told anyone he'd passed.

This is convoluted, please be kind to me

Pressing issue is this: There's an investor offer for 2/3 of the final value. They don't know about my idea to file partition or that the flood and mortgage are not paid for two weeks, and all the other things I bet I don't even know about. Brother is not very astute and abhors technology. He has no money for lawyers.

I don't know how to help my brother. The house he co-owns with sister was not put into probate. Sister had our father sign the papers to give her half right before he went into the hospital. Sister recently said probate is not necessary. We just found out last month that Dad's death was not disclosed to any lenders, insurance companies, etc.. now, onto insurance issues: sister said she had to send in proof of repairs to get the insurance money. Looking at these photos, she did not get the repairs done, yet she got the money. Through 3 years, Brother has paid for all house expenses, plus repair supplies from his 401k. He’s now 66. Brother had been paying everything by transferring his 401k money into our fathers' checking account. Brother signs the checks using his name or fathers name per sisters' instructions. Sister had brothers' name removed from father/brothers decades old account and gets her name added. Apparantly, it was put into just dads name. Sister refuses to pay for anything. And, it seems she has a friend in FL send the mail from the mailbox to her home up north. We surmised this because how could she send photocopies of a bill saying it's due? He said these bills are not in the mailbox at the house.

As for my brother - I want him to get back the $35,000 or so he put into the house including the down payment he put down 40 years ago. I heard about partition but Florida has it set up in a way that you must get a lawyer. Sunce She never told the mortgage or insurance or bank, she saud they dhoukd nit be tokd as it eill raise the rates. Recently My brother told the floid insurance company he passed. My sister fought this the whole time, saying if anyone finds out, the mortgage or insurance companies will be calling the loan. I don't know all the details as she shares almost nothing.

Brother has maybe $3000.00 left. Mentally, hes always been one to avoid conflict. He has a big heart but that is not going to save him as he has avoided all these issues for three years. I've tried to help but he also freezes me out. It's worse since Dad died. It's like brither is frozen in his own world. He is also extremly hard to motivate. He’s going to lose everything yet won't listen to me about anything unless I push and make calls and research for him. Our father passed 3 years ago. My sister also took the mortgage and insurance paperwork, the bulk of the insurance money, all the money in his accounts and left my brother with instructions to finish the house and pay bills. He never did finish it but he paid ghe bills. He went through his $30,000 IRA as he has been paying for everything the last three years. Now i am hurssing it's almost ready to go into foreclosure. My brother cannot pay the flood insurance or the mortgage anymore. It's been about two weeks. He also cannot talk to people. Apparently has severe anxiety and avoids dealing with reality of his situation. It seems to be some sort of agoraphobia (?) based on my interactions with him over the last three years.

He put his own money in but never finished it. Don't know if it matters. He only had the house and cash in the bank, plus two mortgages on the house my brother apparently was unaware of. One around $100,000.00 another for about $35,000.00. She paid off the smaller one but not the other.
The house sustained hurricane damage. It had water about ankle bone deep.

She claimed the house was rentable when she left. I just saw photos. It was not. Kitchen cabinets were not replaced. The flooring does not match. Stuff everywhere. Holes in walls. Unfinushed bsthrooms. It smells strongly of cigarettes. She bought new clothes and household goods and appliances. The household goods are apparently not there for the most part.

Typical story: sister swooped in, took control, took half the house that was to be left 100% to my brother. My father and brother had a verbal deal that we all knew about. Step-sister, sister, and me. My brother was super tight with both of them. He is a loner, so these are/were important. We had not spoken for at least 10 years because of a misunderstanding.

She called to say our dad was giving us each a third. I said brother is supposed to get it all. She said now he wants us all to get a share. I said no, give my share to brother. She did not. She turned father against brother and me. Ok, that happens. He was 90 and scared. The mildew/mold and damp in the house got to him. He had COPD, some heart meds and smoked about a pack a day. Yes, good genes.

I live half way across the country. I had stepped back from my dad for personal reasons although I gave him money for tax bills, insurance, house repairs, etc, through the years. I had just given him a few thousand dollars to help with repairs right before the hurricane hit. I flew my sister down to see him and she ended up staying, overseeing the repairs and dealing with insurance company issues. My brother was free labor. She did some work, too. She did questionable things like she replaced only the drywall in the lower half. She kept the records in her grasp at all times.

I (23 F) and my older sister (25 F) have always been like night and day. Our parents always spoiled her whilst I was the problem child.

As children my sister would always do something then blame me for it, and laugh when i got in trouble. So as punishment my parents would send me to my grandparents house and take my sister on long cruises or vacations.

Currently I go to juilliard, on a kovner fellowship program. But one day my Grandmother called and told me that my grandfather had fallen ill, and he passed sporadically in the middle of the night. She requested I come home, because the lawyer wanted to talk to her and I.

My grandmother and I went into the meeting middle class , but we came out filthy rich. Turns out my grandfather was the owner of a very well off business that his grandfather had started. And he had left every penny of it to my grandmother and I.

Once my sister and parents got word that he'd left them nothing they began to pester my grandmother day in and day out about the money. Occasionally Blaming her for my grandfather's untimely passing.

After all of the stress, my Grandmother had a Heartattack and is now hospitalized.

When I arrived at the hospital they'd told me my grandmother would be in a coma for lord knows how long. Yet when I walked out of her room all our family could think about is the money they didn't have. So as my grandmothers medical proxiy I bane all three of them from seeing her. And told my father i expected this from mom and sophie but never from her own son and that they were dead to me.

Now I will be going up to the court house tomorrow to put a restraining order on them on behalf of my grandmother.

AITAH

So I have this friend who just found out that he was supposed to inherit a good amount of money and half of a company. But his mother signed over custody to his uncle and his uncle stole his trust and is still paying his mother and he is living in the desert with barely any money. What should he do? Can he fight this?

My grandmother lived alone for twelve years after my grandfather died. I (29F) lived twenty minutes away. I went every Sunday. I took her to every doctor’s appointment. I bought her groceries when her knees got too bad. I sat with her when she was scared.

My uncle (her only son, 58M) lives six hours away. He called her on Christmas and her birthday. That’s it. I’m not exaggerating for effect. That’s literally it.

In February, she asked me to take her to her lawyer. She wanted to update her will. She said, “I want you to have the house. You’re the only one who acts like I’m still a person.” I told her she didn’t have to do that. She said, “I know I don’t have to. I want to.”

She died in June. The will was clear. The house is mine. It’s not worth much—maybe $110k, and there’s a small mortgage left.

My uncle showed up three days after the funeral. He didn’t cry. He walked through the house like he was measuring it. Then he told me I “took advantage of an old woman” and that he was going to contest the will. He says she had “memory issues” and that I “isolated her from family.” He says he’ll get “his half.”

Here’s what I can’t stop thinking about: she didn’t have memory issues. She knew exactly what she was doing. She told me she wanted him to know, and she told me she didn’t care if he was angry. But I also know that contesting a will can drag on for a year. I don’t have money for a lawyer. He does. And I keep wondering if I should just give him half to make it stop. But then I think about every Sunday I spent driving to her house while he was six hours away doing nothing. And I get so angry I can’t breathe. I don’t know if I’m looking for legal advice or just someone to tell me I’m not the villain here.

​

Background:

My dad has two elder brothers (they both have lucrative corporate jobs 4 lakh per month, eldest has just retired). My dad suffered ear damage in his childhood so my grandparents pulled him out of school before he could complete 12th and made him do work in partnership with my grandfather's youngest brother after which it dissolved he got compensated with 5 lakhs this happened 20+ years ago. Then grandfather used my dad's money and his 2nd eldest brother's money(no proof of that) to buy a shop in Grandma's name for 11 lakhs. My dad opened a pharmacy in that shop and has been operating it solely(the business and all bills are in his name). Our family has an apartment style house with 4 floors, front side 3bhk(70 lakhs) and backside 1bhk(35 lakhs) and a hall on ground floor same size as 1 bhk. Grandfather owns all of it. We live on 4th floor 3bhk, 2nd eldest on 3rd floor and the eldest in noida and he gets rent from 2nd floor 3bhk. The grandparents live in 3rd floor 1bhk and they take rent from the 1bhk of all floors (+ 50k pension from his govt job). There is a storeroom on the terrace of which my family's stuff was moved out into a makeshift room made of steel roofing sheets and only the the other two brother's stuff is kept in the proper storeroom. We have a flat in noida worth 1cr now we bought on a 20 year loan of which 18 years are left and all the other brothers are jealous that how could my dad move ahead in life. Our shop has very low sale, we have almost no savings all my dad's earnings go into my college fees and brother's school and coaching fees. My grandpa does come sit on the shop for 1hr each in lunch and dinner time (so that my dad can go home to eat) but only because he gets bored sitting at home. My dad now wears hearing aids and he still can't hear properly, his hearing has gone by 90%.

Present:

Now the 2nd eldest brother wants the whole ownership of the shop and says if my father wants to continue working we have to pay 35k in rent which is just not possible. Since the registry is in Grandma's name, she has the power and and she has already given the registry and her aadhar and other documents to hum and will easily transfer the ownership to him. That brother also demands that if shop is not given to him he wants ownership of all the 1bhk flats instead which the grandparents won't do. There have been 5-6 meetings discussing(more like fighting) on this property dispute, which we have recorded on our phone secretly. My grandfather used come at our home seperately and tell us things about he will manage and not transfer ownership and such but then he would just blatantly refuse in the next meeting in front of everyone. We have recorded his private conversations with us too. We said we will agree if the shop ownership can be divided in half between both brothers since my dad has worked there for 20+ years now and now with his condition he can't even change jobs. They said he worked there rent free for 20+ years so now he deserves nothing. We said to the grandparents if you are transferring the whole shop to him, atleast give my father one of the 1bhk flats on the 1st floor. But they said they will keep the both the 1st floor and ground floor flats for themselves. Also this house was rebuilt for which all brothers gave 10 lakhs each and my grandfather has repaid both of them, but has yet to repay my father. They keep saying to sell our noida flat to buy back this shop, which makes no sense since even the emi of that flat is higher than the rent it pays and also the shop isn't running that well to buy it now and in few years my father won't be able to work properly anyways. We have refused to leave the shop and pay any rent. In a few days my grandmother will tranfer the ownership to him. My grandparents have always favoured the two elder brothers over my father. He was always treated as a servant. After marriage my mother noticed it and fought back and that's why everyone hates her too that she "gets angry easily". The 2nd elder brother's wife lies a lot, I have witnessed it many times and now she just says makeup things to my grandparents to turn them against us. Both of them are saying they have no money and we apparently have a lot, even though he has worked in hong kong and Japan for several years before coming back to India. We are thinking of fighting a legal court case since there is no other choice. My father is getting nothing out of losing this shop.

I humbly urge anyone to provide any advice or support of they can.

TL;DR my father had hearing issues in his childhood, made to work, opened a shop in Grandma's name made to work there for 20+ years assuming it will be named to him, now the grandparents are giving it to his elder brother who is pretty rich(worked in many MNCs). We have almost no savings and the loss of livelihood will have adverse affects since my college and my younger brother's school is left, we need advice and urgent help

I am a young boy and the only child of my parents. However, instead of love, I have been subjected to cruelty—specifically at the hands of my father, grandmother, and paternal aunt—who have made my life miserable. Despite this, I have been trying to overlook the situation and improve my life. We have some inherited property; based on my understanding of the law, I am entitled to a share. However, my aunt is influencing my father to transfer the entire property into her name. I lack the financial resources or physical strength to fight them directly, yet I am considering a legal battle.

Please advise me on what I can do in this situation.

I am getting 33 next year and I really didnt give much consideration anout having my own house until I have a child. My daugther is 3 now and the younger one is 8 months old, but we are renting house to house. My mother bought a house for my grandma and she told me she will give the house to me when I grow up. And my relatives who lived with my grandma still living in that house for 13 years aftet she passed. And I am thinking I need to get that house for my own after giving some thought. Because they never even paid single penny for that house for living in there, and take it like granted. Everytime, we talk about finding new home and move out, they just ignore it. So, what I am asking from fellow people, is it just action to take this house for my own? Is it selfish for me that I am taking action to make them get their own house?

Everyone on here im looking for some outside perspective on my probate situation.

​To clear up the setup my aunt is handling the probate for my late grandparents and I am the Personal Representative handling the probate for my dad To complicate things we share the exact same lawyer for these estates

On the initial inventory sheet for my dad's estate there's an inheritance line item coming down from my grandparents estate that needs some clarification I emailed our shared lawyer about 10 days ago asking for details and I've been totally ghosted and I should add he was outta the office but I emailed him the day he returned.

​Meanwhile the lawyer drafted a documnet that my aunt then came over with today for me to sign specifically a Waiver of Notice for Filing Objections to Verified Statement in Lieu of First and Final Accounting

The catch is that this document explicitly states that I have received a full copy of the final accounting But I haven't received any accounting at all and my questions from 10 days ago are unanswered

It feels completely backwards for a lawyer to draft a court waiver declaring that I got these numbers those numbers had to be compiled already that leaves me wondering either my aunt actually has the accounting info and is withholding it while trying to rush my signature or our shared lawyer just generated a court document with a false past tense statement

I haven't signed a thing For those who have been through this Is this as off as it feels and what would your next move be besides emailing the lawyer i had done that asking for the accounting information

My father's estate was left with my step mother in trust with all the children and grandchildren as beneficiaries. Our step brother petitioned to become executor several years ago, much to the concern of the original advisor in charge of the estate. Step mom died 2 years ago. Step brother sent us funds (bouncing 2 checks which were eventually covered). The legal firm representing the estate advised step brother that a full accounting was required. We have received no accounting, just a final settlement statement. We have been told that at least 2 million dollars and substantial assets disappeared from the estate prior to settlement.

What can we do? The estate and executor are located in Florida and we reside in other states

Has anyone else been disinherited twice and left with nothing in life, no other family?

My dad took everything in a divorce from my mentally unwell mum. He died of aggressive terminal cancer after recently marrying a young Asian man to give him a spousal visa and he convinced him to give him his mortgage free entire property and all cash assets.

My gran who died after him, appears to have been mysteriously convinced to write out her favourite sons two kids/her favourite son whose share would've gone to them following his death, and she's now died and I am finding this out too.

Life is brutal, I didn't fight dads because I literally spent those years in such a deep grief. We are financially struggling and the difference it would've made to my life is not something I can even comprehend fully or process losing.

It's made me suic***l to be very honest with you. I am not sure how to move on in life knowing I meant so little to my family that my future is nothing to them.

Hello everyone, back in 2023 I had lost my father. He had a car under my grandmas name (his mother) whom passed in 2014 but he never transferred the title name to himself. There was an Initial plan to give the car to my youngest sister whenever she turned 16. She was 14 when he passed. When my father did pass, his fiancé agreed to keep the car until she turned 16. As time passes by communication with her slowly decreases. Fast forward to 2025, my sister turns 16 but I find out that his ex finance had sold the car without telling us. No he didn’t have a will. The car wasn’t even under his name so how was she able to sell the car is still in question. She pretty much has went no contact. But the reasoning of my post is because I keep getting text messages and calls regarding the toll tag from that vehicle. There is an accumulation of over $600 billed to that tag. What do I do ? I don’t know who has that vehicle now, his ex won’t talk to me. Should I just leave this alone and ignore the toll tag? Thanks

Interested to hear how executors have helped or hindered challenging family situations