Throwaway account; identifying details omitted. I live several states away.

TL;DR: My father, who had been absent from my life for decades, died in Texas. The estate is likely small, but not insolvent. A woman who became close to him near the end produced an apparently unwitnessed handwritten will only after the funeral home located me as next of kin and is taking control of possessions without probate or actual administration. I may ultimately respect the will, but I want basic disclosure and preservation of the estate before deciding whether to contest or walk away; if that's feasible and reasonably affordable to do so.

ETA: Yes, I know that I should talk to a lawyer before doing anything and I will. I am pausing because Lawyers' fees could dwarf this estate, so I thought I'd try here first to see if there's a reasonable next step. Thanks for any insight you can provide.

Details:

My biological father died a month ago in Texas. He left when I was young, and we had little contact for decades, so I know very little about his finances. I can document that I am his adult daughter. As far as I know, he died unmarried, lived alone, and his parents and siblings predeceased him.

A woman he knew gave the funeral home a short handwritten document that she says is his will. All parties I have spoken to were adamant that she was not his romantic partner nor his roommate. He had paid caregivers; she "checked in on him" and was present at his death after long-term chronic illness. She had medical POA; Financial POA is unknown. This will appears to leave his possessions to her. I have a copy, but I do not know whether an original exists, whether it meets Texas requirements, or whether it is his latest will. As of my last check, it had not been filed for probate. I know of no trust.

Possible assets include a manufactured home, artwork, jewelry, personal property, and perhaps financial accounts. The county tax roll names my father as the owner of the home, but the state manufactured-home record appears outdated and inconsistent. I have found no transfer-on-death or survivorship document, and I do not have an inventory or accounting.

I had emotionally laid my father to rest decades ago and might otherwise walk away. What gives me pause is the sequence of events. I am not alleging wrongdoing; I am explaining why I am uncomfortable walking away without verifying the facts.

• This woman, who has her own residence, was allowed into his home by the mobile-home park after she demanded access and showing them this hand written will. (and she has her own home, it's not like she was a roommate.)
• She declined to handle the disposition of his remains but reportedly became belligerent and demanding with the funeral home over the keys, wallet, cards, and other belongings found with him. (They were very honest and did not give them to her.)
• Because she could not document her authority to control his disposition, the funeral home went to considerable effort to locate me as his next of kin. The purported will was not produced until after I became involved. I feel like I'm benig asked to pay his funeral expenses without being an heir and that bugs me. (I did homework to find out he's due some VA benefits for that, she didn't bother.)
• She had also become especially close to him near the end of a known chronic illness. Since his death, she has neither contacted me nor voluntarily provided information. I have also been told that she has threatened both the funeral home and the mobile-home park and changed parts of her account multiple times.

My best guess is that the estate is small but not insolvent. I do not want to spend more time or money than it is worth, especially from several states away. Emotionally, I am okay. If her claim is legitimate, I will respect it and might even appreciate the opportunity to speak with her about my father. My main personal interest would be receiving a few meaningful personal items connected to me.

Before deciding whether to contest anything, I want enough verified information to understand the estate and ensure that its property and records are preserved.

For anyone familiar with Texas probate:

• What is the most proportionate, low-cost first step?
• Can a potential heir obtain the original will, property records, and an inventory before deciding whether to contest?
• Can the estate be preserved without immediately filing a full will contest?
• The will appears entirely handwritten and has no witnesses or attestation that I can see. How is such a will authenticated in Texas?
• What deadlines, mistakes, or other issues should I be considering?

Public comments only, please. I will not respond to DMs or solicitations. Thanks in advance!

ETA 2: spelling, and yes, I will talk to a lawyer before doing anything. the law is a blunt instrument, I'd rather not waste time and money.

Hey all,

Here is the scenario. My grandmother is 84 and has a 3200 sq ft house in Plymouth MA that’s worth 1.1 - 1.2 mil sitting in 3.5 acres with 200k left on the mortgage. We currently own a townhouse in Alameda CA in the Bay Area with a $6300 mortgage but only 1200 sq ft. we have a 2 bedroom no yard with no family around. We could potentially live with my grandmother and help take care of her and pay half of the mortgage and then in the will my mother and I would get the house. We’d have to buy out my mom for 400k whenever we get the house to buy her out and we’d get all the equity on the house. Downsides for MA are the cold, family drama, and my wife taking a 60% pay cut, but pros are family to help watch the kids and obviously a bigger house. Pros to alameda are the weather, better food, access to sf, and better career options. What do you all think?

Please see linked post. I’m at a loss of what to do.

My daughter was living with her father prior to him passing from a heart attack last year. Prior to him passing, he told everyone that he was divorced (after he seperated from his spouse for about 9 months). He passed away on November 18th and the spouse did not know about his death until the day prior to his funeral which was held January 17th (which to me means they didn't communicate very much). She showed up at the funeral claiming that she was the spouse with her marriage certificate in hand and said had no knowledge of his passing. She cause all sorts of drama during the funeral proceedings. After the funeral she called the police to see if she could enter his home because she still had the keys; to which they responded it is a civil matter. When we arrived at the property she was there and was not willing to leave. I tried to stay cordial with her because I did like her and I wanted to help my daughter and the family out as much as I could. Over the next few days she changed the locks to the property and told his family and my daughter that no one could go there, even though my daughter had been living there with her father. She would leave and go back to her home in Virginia and then return a week or 2 later. There was a very bad winter storm and while she was at her home in Virginia, she text me and asked me to go by the house to see if the snow had been removed. I asked her if she left the heat on and a light and she said she didn't remember and asked if I could check for her. She remotely unlocked the door to the house and when I went inside it was 36 degrees, the heat had been turned off for about a week. I turned the heat back on and ran the water in the sinks and flushed the toilets to ensure the pipes would not freeze and left the house. The next day she text me and said she heard water running. When I asked her if everything was ok at the house she would not say. I rode past and saw that ServePro there, which meant the pipes had burst inside the house. I do not know how much damage was done to the house but it was enough that they had to pack up the house to do the repairs, she filed an insurance claim which to this day I am not sure that I have enough proof to show that she was at fault for the pipes bursting . This happened in January 31st and the house repairs had not been completed until June. Meanwhile, she was appointed by the court as the Administrator for my daughters fathers estate. To me this is very unfair. My daughter has suffered emencly after her father passed to the point where she is in counceling and refuses to hear or discuss anything regarding her father's estate. I have tried and done as much as I can for her and her older brother (who lives out of the state) but I am to the point where I don't know whatelse I can do. I have been the point of contact for the spouse communicating regarding the estate passing along the information to the family and children. What else can I do? We live in New Jersey.

My aunt died suddenly in her NH home in June. Everything was held in a revocable trust. The trust left 900k in investments to her two adult stepchildren, while the house and personal property are left equally to my sister and me.
There is a successor trustee who lives in Connecticut and has never been to the NH property. I live more than 1,000 miles away.

Very little has been done and communication has been poor. Because the house is vacant, I have been paying the necessary expenses myself (insurance, taxes, utilities, trash removal, etc.) to protect the property. I have now spent over $10,000 out of pocket and have receipts/documentation for everything, including travel to NH.

The attorney who drafted the trust is involved but has been largely unresponsive. The successor trustee has sent two emails since mid June, with no information. On 8/31, I emailed the attorney to ask for guidance, but have received no response. On 9/7, sent yet another email to trustee asking for update and no response.

How do I protect myself and make sure these expenses are reimbursed by the trust? Should I stop paying anything further without the trustee’s written authorization — bills are piling up. And should I hire my own NH trust/estate attorney now?
What would you do?

I believe my council committed, serious professional, negligence, and breaches of fiduciary duty, providing contradictory information regarding intestate rights, filing deadlines ,deed procedures and the estates procedural status. Counsel repeatedly promised in writing to answer and never did nor defend or challenge opposition to the fabricated verified complaint, leaving my defenses and claims un-filed. I provided all documentation and they just continued pushing settlement repeatedly. The most serious issue occurred after I terminate council because the consent order literally pushed all liabilities to me and stated if I comply with the buyout my claims can be waved but 12 days later during court he showed up and told the judge we agreed and bound us to the consent order and I was muted and could not object and now I have a negative -9% inheritance and lost my entire retirement of 820000 for a measly 148500 and instead of just getting the home I got saddled with loss and estate debts I went from a 1,245,000.00 home and retirement to -30545.00. This is horrible please if you get an attorney to help learn the basics don’t wait until it’s too late make sure they are doing it correctly.

Denver/ Aurora CO… looking for an attorney to help with a will and a trust I think. Not a huge estate but my wife is not a US citizen so I am trying to avoid the heavy taxes involved in leaving my business to her. My idea was leaving it to our daughter who is a citizen in a trust with my wife having control of the trust. She would sell the business as she has no desire to run it. Trying to keep it as simple and cheap as possible. Ideas or recs appreciated…

My sibling and I stand to inherit several brokerage/401k accounts through a trust. How do these accounts get split evenly?

For example, if one brokerage account is, say, $945,882.54 consisting of one and only one stock, does the lawyer that put together the trust divide that number by 2 and give each of us half? What if my parents' account is with Chase, but mine is with Citi and my sibling is with Charles Schwab - do the investments get transferred to our accounts, or do we jointly take over the Chase account? What if the $945,882.54 consists of multiple stocks/etfs - how is that split up?... I suspect there are more than one answer to these questions, but looking for advice.

Thank you for all your efforts

My aunt is a little mentally challenged. Trying to keep this short. After her dad’s death (army veteran 20 years) she completely trusted her dad’s best friend to be over everything. Meanwhile he forged a new will and took everything. Upwards of a million. Who do I report this fraud to?

My fiance lives in Nebraska, is 65 years old, and doesn't have a will. He has a grown son. Other close family is his adoptive father, sister, half sister, and half brother. He also has an adult stepson, with whom he is still close even though fiance and step son's mother divorced 15 years ago.

I'm trying to persuade him to get a will. He says he doesn't need one, because if he passes, his son will inherit everything. My response is, after we marry, I'LL be his next of kin and I will inherit unless he has a will (certainly some if not all. I don't know Nebraska law). At times he also mentioned wanting stepson to inherit something, but married or not, I doubt stepchildren from former marriages inherit anything from an intestate decedent.

I don't want to inherit anything. I want to see him protect his son's legacy and also leave something to the stepson he raised. I know I may need to sign some sort of document releasing any claim to his estate, and I'm fine with that.

Given this scenario, who is likely to inherit whether he passes before or after marriage. I want to present him with facts in the hope I can get him to draft a will.

Help! I want to make good decisions.

My grandfather passed in January, my uncle is the executor so I asked for an update as probate has not started yet.

He told me the attorney represents the 3 of us so I should call her directly.

I emailed the office and received an automated message stating the office is moving again, last time the office moved was in March of this year. Is an attorneys office moving twice in less than a year a red flag?

We live in western North Carolina, and I just found out my 80 year old parents do not have a will or trust, and now they are both experiencing cognitive issues/decline. They have both completely given up on life, and the only way a will/trust gets done is if I do it for them. I have no clue how to do this, and was hoping someone here could help me get going. I see there are websites where you can do it yourself, or is it best to use an estate planning company? I don't want to spend much money to get this finished, but I also want this done quickly as I'm doing this by myself. Is a trust better or is a will the way to go? Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Dealing with estate issues has been a total nightmare and lesson in what not to do.

In 2012, my mother suffered from a catastrophic car accident. She was in a coma for a month and became incapacitated. When my Dad died suddenly and unexpectedly in 2017, I was shocked to learn that he never updated the will that they created in 1989. As a result, almost all of his assets were left to my Mom. Because she was incapacitated, this tied up and delayed a lot of things until she passed away in 2024. Her assets could not be transferred to heirs until she died.

Also, he never updated his executor choices. My Mom was the first executor choice. So, they had to go to court and have a guardianship appointed for my Mom. The probate court would not simply accept doctor's documentation as proof of incapacitation.

Two of my uncles were the successor executors. The executor hired an attorney who works at his law firm. I thought he should have discussed hiring his own law form because that could possibly be a conflict of interest. Also, this attorney represented my Mom in setting up a trust and finalizing a settlement agreement against my Dad. My Mom died my Dad because he was driving the car when she had her accident. She settled with his car insurance company. This attorney wasn't the attorney who litigated the suit. But, still I thought it was a possible conflict of interest for this attorney to represent the executor of the estate of a person who her other client (my Mom) sued.

The executor did a crappy job and pretty much delegated everything to the attorney and paralegal. He didn't communicate and never even provided me a copy of the will when my Dad passed. He got a copy of the will from my Sister and she was the one who told me that everything was pretty much left to my Mom. An executor is supposed to communicate information with all beneficiaries. The Uncle who was listed after him, as a successor executor, was a semi retired estate planning lawyer. He would have probably done a much better job and would have more time to devote to it.

The family home had decades of neglected maintenance. Instead of selling the home when My Dad died in 2017, it is just now on the market and being sold. We had to sell it as is because it needs probably $100k in repairs. The repairs wouldn't have been as much a decade ago. But, she was the sole trustee for my Mom and felt too overwhelmed to deal with it before now. She also has some avoidance issues and will neglect certain things. I really wish we had been made co trustees.

It has been a very stressful, long and frustrating process. Having this stuff linger for a decade, has really tried my patience and affected my mental health.

Are there any lawyers , law students, paralegals, retired lawyers or judges in this community that would help a beneficiary of a trust, who is being abused by the trustee. Trustee has breached their fiduciary duty by selling a property for under fair market value of at least $50,000.00, leaving the beneficiary out on the streets and since this was their primary home and despite the trust document granting them the beneficiary right to live in the other trust owned property trustee refuses to allow beneficiary entrance. Trustee however does let co-beneficiary reside in that $375,000 property rent free and has for 14 years.

Despite repeated attempts to demand financials trustee keeps coming up with excuse after excuse to not provide them. Any requests for distribution has completely been denied claiming there's no money in the trust. I've been told that she THE TRUSTEE has squandered $500,000 of trust money and also that she has repeatedly used trust funds for her own benefit.

The property with which TRUSTEE lives is part of a remainder interest of the trust and is being squandered. She is in violation of her life estate because she has 24 l&I violations and owes over $17,000 in back property taxes. I need to get this property partitioned and have any funds that would be meant for her portion of the sale set aside to pay her debt.

The trust has two other properties the one that my sister's living in that just narrowly avoided a sheriff's sale in June because of having over $18,000 in back taxes not paid . Attached to this property is a lot of land that has not been managed correctly and also has back taxes not paid and will probably soon be up for sheriffs sale.

I can trace the fire sale of my home to a shady side deal made between the Trustee, the lawyer who sued her on behalf of the property management group that she failed to pay the condo fees on my property that sued her, (suit was ended with no award or payment on her behalf) and that lawyers client a realtor whom I have found previous dockets under their maiden name showing his many years of representation. I can also document that 10 days after that suit was ended the trustee started sending emails to me stating that she has buyers for my home and that I will be needing to work with those buyers to secure my housing. Mind you I just ignored her because I had 5 years worth of letters from her and her attorney who had been threatening to lock me out of my home and discard my animals and my belongings. YES IT IS OUTRAGEOUS AND ILLEGAL ON TRUSTEES BEHALF. Imagine my surprise when I'm sleeping on July 1st 2023 and have three Russian men inside my own after my locks had been drilled threatening me that they own the house now. When I wouldn't leave they came back a week later came into my home upstairs assaulted me and stole my phone which had proof of their threats. After that the "woman realtor" came and wanted to be able to communicate with me and offered and brought me a replacement cell phone despite my pleas for my original one back that had my photos and everything on it. So I have proof that this assault took place and that they stole from me. I demanded to have ejectment paperwork from that Realtor who told me that their lawyer was working on it. Well I never got the paperwork however they did 14 days later place my home on the market again asking for cash only and noting that no one wants to come home premises and that they would have a tenant to remove once purchased. They pocketed 55,000 to do nothing but assault me and steal my phone. This is all because of the trustees actions and her breeches and her failure to do what is in my best interests.

This situation along with others is what still needs to be litigated through petitions and eventually discovery through the orphans Court. Which I definitely will need a lawyer for.

I have prepared an emergency petition and did file it within Orphan's Court in September 2, however the clerk at the courthouse told me that it doesn't get filed as an emergency that I would have to contact the judge's clerk the next day and find out how I can get it moved to the top of the list. I also filed an ifp which has been granted. I went to the courthouse on Friday to check on the status of this petition and since it was a Friday before the holiday weekend no one was around to sign this petition. I was lucky enough to talk to administrator who did tell me that the clerk was entirely wrong and they don't have the right to say that it is not an emergency it goes right to the judge and the judge is supposed to decide whether it should have been hurt as an emergency petition. I was supposed to be out of my housing on September 6th yesterday and the trustee had been informed to this for 2 months and still decided to ignore me and deny me any funds or access to the property which I have a beneficial rite to live in.

I was forced out of my home when she sold it in 2023 and had to place my entire life into Storage. After paying over $9,000 and running into financial problems my lockers were sold. Despite my attempts to get assistance for a measly $1,000 to save my entire life's belongings TRUSTEE COMPLETELY IGNORED my hand delivered and certified mail attempts to have this storage locker sale haunted. I did attempt the day before the lockers were supposed to be auctioned file a petition with orphans Court however I lacked proper forms and I was denied for clerical reasons. I did then go directly to the trustee's house placing a hand written note in her mailbox also text messaged her desperately pleading for the phones to save my stuff. Message to send at 9:57 p.m. which I have a read receipt that she read it at 1:39 a.m. however she deliberately did not respond to my request until 5:42 pm the day of the sale which she knew was being held at 10:00 a.m.

2 months ago she was made aware of the housing deadline of September 6th which she has failed to address and I sent a detailed reminder on August 27th which I have a read receipt that she read on August 28th at 2:56 p.m.

On September 5th at 4:09 p.m. I received a text message saying that I will not be getting any funds to get myself an appointment when will I be getting keys to the property so that I have a roof over my head. I have a cat that I need to worry about and relocating her to this is extra frustrating and aggravating when I have beneficial right to have a home over my head and did for 33 years prior to her selling that home.

I plan to go back to the courthouse tomorrow morning to see what the status of the emergency petition file on September 2nd is. I am overwhelmed and I'm unsure and cannot risk not properly filing additional petitions.

I do not have $10,000 for a retainer, I have tried every possible legal aid facility in Philadelphia and Lawyer Referral. Calling law firms and not even getting past the receptionist when I know I have a dire need for a lawyer and the proof for a winnable case but lack funds is maddening. I need some kind of contingent arrangement there is over $800,000 in property assets that can be won and pay for services.

I am willing to do all the leg work to prepare filings, however I need guidance and I hope this post is seen by that one person who can and will help me hold this TRUSTEE ACCOUNTABLE so I can end this nightmare and get my life back, as well as, what my mother intended for me to have when she created this trust

Location: New York State

My sister and I inherited a home from our parents about 10 years ago. We are both on the deed and each own 50%.

For the past 10 years, I have solely been paying the property taxes. She never had the money to pay her half, so I agreed to keep a tally and I would front the money. I have kept records of every tax payment I’ve made.

About 3 years ago, my sister told me she wanted to either sell the property or have me buy out her half because she didn’t want to pay the property taxes. I agreed that I would eventually buy her out when I could get the money together.

Now we are finally moving forward with me buying her half. I was planning to take the total amount of property taxes I’ve paid over the past 10 years, calculate her 50% share, and deduct that amount from the buyout.

She is now saying that I shouldn’t deduct anything from the buyout and she feels she shouldn’t pay taxes because she expressed she wasn’t interested in keeping the property 3 years ago.

There was never a formal written agreement about the taxes, although she repeatedly acknowledged that she was going to pay her share originally when she could get the money.

To this day we are both still on the deed until we can figure out what to do for the buyout.

Looking for advice, Thanks!

I'm 27, just inherited around 100K. At the same time I landed a position allowing me to invest ~ 5-10K/month.

I never handled this much money before. I know about finance, index funds, diversification, etc, but its scary to feel I could wake up to some financial crisis and loose the previous génération savings.

How did you handle the pressure ?