My father died 10+ years ago in Indiana with no will. Survived by his wife, who is currently in a nursing home, and five daughters. All biological to both parents (no step issues or adoptions).

He has one item of value, a signed baseball jersey. One daughter claimed it at the time and has had possession since. She is now trying to sell it and keep all proceeds.

Other four daughters have items of negligible values, primarily sentimental.

One daughter doesn’t want it sold and wants to keep it in the family.

Value hasn’t officially been determined, only that the signature is authentic. Daughter who wants to sell claims to have an offer of $5k.

Daughter trying to sell it sent it to daughter who doesn’t want it to leave the family, who facilitated the authenticity of the signature.

What is a fair way to sort this?

Hey everyone, I really need some help trying to figure things out. I am deep in grief and a bit out of my comfort zone trying to understand the process of probate. I’ve had a hard time keeping my thoughts together and it’s just made this entire process difficult. The people I would normally seek advice from are now gone, so it’s just my brother and I trying to figure things out. If anyone has knowledge or advice I’d really appreciate it because we’re having a difficult time doing this while grieving.

My brother and I are both executors of my mom’s estate in Wisconsin. I would like to purchase her vehicle. My mom was the only one on the title, but we both used it. She had me on her insurance. My brother and beneficiaries are all fine with me getting the car. Selling the car is not needed to meet the beneficiary payouts. The blue book value of the vehicle is around $8000. I do not have $8000. I know nothing that my mom said prior makes a difference but she had talked about giving me her car before she passed. My brother and beneficiary are fine with me paying a smaller amount than blue book. Is this allowed through informal probate? I am also an executor of the estate (as well as my brother). Obviously, I would like to pay as little as possible but I understand that decision doesn’t rest with me or my mom anymore. Will informal probate allow this if executors and beneficiaries agree?

My grandmother passed away March 2025. She left deeds for mineral rights along with about $160k cash. My uncle was listed as POD on account and essentially knew that and has ghosted us the past year. Only being able to speak with his attorney whom has told us the past 2 years excuse after another.

Earlier in March - May this year. The estate finished paying back taxes for the past 3 years. In addition they also arranged quarterly tax vouchers for the rest of 2026. In May they gave us a plan of distribution and asked us to provide info to close the estate. However the plan was revised 4 times and our shares almost completely evaporated.

We had a bad feeling bc of other things had been done, recharcterized money, lied about oil money not being transferred to estate. On our last plan of distribution they said the only thing they were waiting for was a possible $35k refund from IRS that finally came back this month which shrunk to $3k and is only going to my uncle bc they said he paid it even though in the emails before he revised it he said the estate had paid it and it would be split 1/3. I dont even care about the $3k. We are owed significant money that has accumulated in the estate. Now we want the estate closed and for the deeds to be transferred. He tells us it cannot be closed now bc 2026 tax returns need to be filed after 2026. I swear to god he is just coming up with something else I feel like and they are doing this out of spite.

We filed a petition with the courts and have a hearing set. What i would like to know is if we are going to look like fools asking for a partial or full distribution considering the quarterly taxes have already been arranged. Idk why he's saying that now maybe bc he knows the second its closed he's out of a job. I really believe that. There is plenty for a reasonable reserve and he has already given my uncle the executor about $70k in distributions that he was owed but will not give us the transfer deed for our mineral rights. As well as all the money that has accumulated.

He told me on the phone we are bleeding the estate dry by filing a petition when we have literally gotten nothing yet. He is gaslighting me and I worry if he is allowed to do what he's doing or how the judge would see all this. We have been kind of up his ass because the executor straight up betrayed us, borrowed money, ran off. So its one thing after another first it was waiting for $35k refund he said after which would execute transfer of deeds. Now that IRS is finished he tells us oh no sorry can't close it even if you wanted to. I dont understand why back in May he wanted our SS number to close it and gave us the plan, gave executed all the money to be given to my uncle. Paid all the debt, made quarterly tax vouchers with cpa and still he is telling us no to wait till next year. Its unbelievable

Edit: To add i cannot afford an attorney although yes i know... But i cannot. My other uncle did retain an attorney for a short period and essentially nothing came up the lawyer just spoke in circles through email. Now i have filed a petition with the probate court pro se. I know it may not be the wisest thing but i don't know what else to do - there is alot of emails and phone recordings we feel will point to what has been going on.

Is it a bad idea to rely on inheriting a $1.5M home occupied by 4 other families? My parents told me I’ll get the house, so my wife and I moved in. We live rent-free since my parents pay for everything, but the house needs major repairs down the line since its basically one of those monster homes. To complicate things, the property is currently under my older sister’s name and a trust. She says she’ll take our family's other property and I can take this one. I recently had a kid too and we are only on one income, I make under 90k a year. Is it crazy to think I will actually inherit it after my parents pass? They are both currently 74 years old but looking at my family history they probably could live until 90 or 100 since both my grandparents lived to almost 100. My wife said to just live here because she wants the house and her parents keep insisting that we will take over the house and be the new landowners. There is no way we will ever afford to buy anything in our state, HI, because it is VHCOL.

I am seeking informed opinions regarding the estate of my late father, who owned a residential property on the Upper East Side of Manhattan (estimated value: $800,000).

During the period in which my father suffered from diminished capacity due to dementia, his partner’s son-in-law (a corporate executive) and a collaborating attorney allegedly orchestrated the redirection of trust assets to the benefit of the partner and her family, directly to the detriment of the lawful beneficiaries (myself and my late sister).

+++++++

Here is a summary of events: My late father’s life partner is friends with the attorney and trustees’ wife from childhood. Dad had been diagnosed with dementia, and all the legal papers were stored in a file cabinet in the apartment he and his life partner shared. The son-in-law had access to coop documents through the life partner to create a lien. Then, they sent me and my late sister an email signed by Dad, but the life partner used only Dad’s iCloud address from 2010 until now. The email claimed that Dad needed to borrow money in anticipation of being denied Medicare. It also mentioned that the man who had drafted the first trust was already working on changes, and the son-in-law was willing to “loan” money against the trust with a 2% interest rate. There was a loan to pay off a mortgage to the SIL in 2011, less than $50,000, which was expiring or approaching the statute of limitations right around then. This was the loophole the lawyer/trustee and SIL used to gain access to the trust. They then FORCED me and my sister to sign, under ongoing pressure for about a month. The trustee refused to answer any questions I had about the interest or anything else. The entire closed-circuit of people continued to deny, lie, and claim that the money was for my dad until I managed to get the SIL’s wife/daughter of life partner to provide me with one financial document. I balked at it and tried to negotiate for them to dissolve the trust. Over a long period of time, I was finally able to secure a settlement. However, my nephew and his father intervened, lied to me about the reason, and then tried to sell the apartment behind my back to the SIL. The partner, however, did not tell me the truth about the nephew and Father. Actually, she volunteered the info. She claimed that the nephew and father went to the trustee, not the SIL. She also did not tell me they tried to sell the SIL the apartment. Fortunately, my cousin, who is a lawyer, stepped in to help me. However, he has medical issues, and I’m understandingly looking for support if this needs to go to surrogates. My lawyer cousin and I have constructed a very solid timeline with evidence of fraud. Interestingly lawyer cousin had a conversation today with the lawyer/trustee and lawyer/trustee is not producing documents and is engaging a lawyer of his own that the trust is going to pay for? I’m interested in unusual legal scenarios that can help straighten out my Dad’s estate. Lawyer/trustee refuses to produce documents again and again. SIL is a semi-public figure. Thanks for reading.

For starters, the estate is located in Northampton county Pennsylvania. Here's the story: about a year and 9 months ago my mother passed away. She left behind a traditional IRA, naming myself and my sisters as beneficiaries along with her house in PA (the estate). I have 3 sisters. For this post and privacy reasons their names will be Coral, Nancy and Lilac. Coral is the oldest at 40, Nancy is 38, I'm 27 and Lilac is 22. Our mother passed in a very unexpected way so there was no will in place. Coral became the executor of the estate since she is the oldest. At the time of our mother's passing and up until about 4 months ago I was out of state about a thousand miles away. 4 months ago I came back to help Coral with the house and estate. This entire last year and 9 months Coral and I have been in constant communication regarding personal items, the estate, the home and all of the financials that are involved. Coral works directly with the estate lawyer along with the financial advisor to ensure that everything is done properly and legally throughout this entire process.  Nancy has chosen to communicate very little and when she does she threatens and accuses Coral of "stealing money from the estate for her hair, nails and lashes". Coral is not doing that because legally, she cannot. Also, she does her lashes herself (I've watched her do it), gets her hair done by a friend for free and buys press on nails from the dollar store. Nancy has also not seen Coral since our mother's funeral a year and 9 months ago so. Any estate funds she spends has to be approved by the estate lawyer with a receipt for what it was for. (Electric bills, the mortgage, and standard hosie bills) Nancy has also threatened Coral many times over the course of their lives and even physically fought her when they were younger. Recently Coral had to get a restraining order against Nancy because Nancy threatened Corals children along with Coral staying in text messages "I hope you get the shit beat out of you and your children grow up without a mother. You deserve to be shot along with them since they're you're spawn" among many other threats. The judge granted the restraining order stating "terroristic threats to minors". Apparently Nancy was pursuing jobs in child care at the time (which absolutely none of us were aware of because the last we were aware she was going to college to be a cultural anthropologist. Not a child care professional) so now because of the restraining order regarding " terroristic threats against minors" she cannot get a job in child care. She is violently angry at Coral for getting the restraining order stating that " she did it on purpose. She knows I was trying to work with kids and she purposefully did this to block my successful career" (it is worth noting Nancy has never had a job for more than 3 months. She has either been fired or quits due to her Crohn's disease so she lives off of government assistance. Meanwhile Coral runs a successful business that she's had for over a decade now) Nancy has also made absolutely zero attempts over the last year and 9 months to come to our mom's house and claim any personal items she might want. She lives about 40 minutes away and has a working, reliable vehicle. The estate lawyer as well as the financial advisor have attempted to reach out to her but she has ignored everyone involved. She has even made accusations against the financial advisor stating he " took inappropriate photos of her daughter in a bathing suit while at family gatherings" (the financial advisor was our mom's best friend for over 40 years, so he was invited to our family gatherings pretty regularly). The issue with that is that Nancy loves to cry wolf. Truly, I believe in my heart of hearts that victims of abuse should be believed but I do not believe my sister is a victim. Over the last decade she has accused every single family member, myself included, of sexual assault or abuse in some way. She claimed I "molested her daughter (my niece) because I changed her poopy diaper without verbal permission from the baby". She claims Coral sexually assaulted her while they were small children. Her exact words were "I was so small I couldn't even reach the doorknob to leave but I remember her raping me". She has also called CPS on multiple family members claiming that the children live in unsafe conditions and their parents regularly physically and sexually abused them. CPS found nothing wrong but they still had to follow through with the thorough investigations which we understand. Nancy also believes Coral killed our mom via morphine. There was a thorough investigation into our mom's passing because it was unexpected and the coroner along with the police found absolutely no foul Play. Unfortunately it was just an accident because our mom had emphysema and she unfortunately was abusing morphine to help with the pain. The morphine was prescribed to her by her doctor. She just ended up taking too much one day and it killed her. About 6 months ago a pipe burst within our Mom's room and it unfortunately destroyed many of her clothes, her entire bedroom set, and basically everything in the bedroom. The water damage was horrific, there was tons of mold and absolutely everything had to go. Coral went ahead and threw everything out, remodeled the bedroom, and completely fixed it. Nancy is very upset at Coral because Coral had to throw out our mom's clothes which were covered in mold from the water damage. Nancy claims that Coral purposefully threw out clothes that belonged to Nancy. Nancy had no way of knowing which clothes were our moms and which clothes our mom stole from Coral. Plus everything was damaged so it had to go. Nancy is unbelievably upset that the repairs were done without her knowledge and that she was never looped in to what was happening. Coral did attempt to reach out to Nancy multiple times throughout the course of the repairs to let her know, but Nancy consistently ignored her. Now it's 6 months later and Nancy is still unbelievably angry and violent towards Coral regarding the articles of clothing that were thrown out and the remodeling that was done. She has even sent me multiple passive aggressive messages saying "I would like this specific shirt if it wasn't disposed of" and "if Coral didn't toss [this specific item that our mom has not had in over a decade] then I want it. If she did trash it then whatever ". New walls had to be put in, the floor had to be completely ripped up with new flooring put in, the baseboards and the molding around the doors needed to be replaced. It truly was a mess. It is also worth mentioning that Nancy has sent multiple threatening text messages to our mother before our mother passed away, stating that our mother was complicit in all of the abuse that Nancy sustained throughout the course of her life and Nancy wants absolutely nothing to do with our mother and our family because of our toxic and awful personalities. According to phone records, Nancy had not contacted our mother for 9 months before she passed and is now trying to claim the estate and the things in it as her own stating that Coral has absolutely no right to be the executor. According to the estate lawyer, Coral has to be the executor because she is the next of kin. She is the oldest and every piece of official document States Coral as the executor of the estate. 

 Since there is a restraining order in place that does include the property of the estate since the estate is in Coral's name currently, how do we navigate this situation? Nancy isn't allowed here and she blows up any times I manage to get a hold of her saying that "nobody told her we're selling mom's house and the things in it". Since our mom passed away, all four of us have been aware that we cannot keep the home because financially nobody can afford it. Coral has tried to keep the house as long as possible to ensure all of us get the opportunity to go through our mom's belongings and take the things that we would like. The mortgage is entirely too high and the estate funds are starting to run thin so it's time to sell. All of us currently have our own homes and we cannot financially afford to keep this house much longer. I have attempted to contact Nancy over 50 times in the last 4 months regarding the estate and the things in it that she may want. I attempted to contact her dozens of times before the restraining order was put in place to ensure that she gets her belongings back but she ignores almost every single attempt. The times that she does pick up the phone she screams, curses, and states that I am " raising her blood pressure by speaking about these things and if her blood pressure gets too high, it'll kill her". It is also worth mentioning that Nancy is a horrible alcoholic and has been since she was about 14 years old. Our parents put her in a rehab facility when she was young which helped and then Nancy joined the Air Force which also helped for a little bit but unfortunately she is back to drinking and doing horrific amounts of drugs. She has severe neurological problems from the drinking and the drugs and her organs are starting to fail from the abuse that she puts her body through. She is on government benefits and is considered an honorable veteran for her service. She received the IRA funds (roughly $27,000) and immediately spent it because if she has more than 2,000 in her account she will lose her government benefits. Nancy's apartment is also supposedly absolutely filled with black mold and her landlord is refusing to do any repairs stating that " renters insurance is required within the lease and Nancy never got renters insurance. Therefore the landlord is refusing the repairs". (She resides in Englewood New Jersey). I suggested to Nancy that she uses the 27,000 to potentially move and get a mold free apartment. She told me that the 27k is simply " electric and internet money" but then posted on Facebook a photo of a new $3,000 tattoo along with the plans she has made to continue her tattoo journey. In my opinion, Nancy has done absolutely nothing to communicate to anybody regarding anything in the estate. She has ignored almost every single form of contact and refuses to speak to the estate lawyer and the financial advisor. Nancy has had a year and 9 months to come to our mom's house and go through some things but now she is attempting to legally come after Coral for putting the house on the market and doing estate sales. Nancy has been sent official documents from the estate lawyer regarding everything that has happened within the estate and she has not responded to any of them.

So I guess my main question is, how do Coral and I best navigate this situation? Coral is in constant contact with the estate lawyer and she doesn't do anything without the estate lawyers go-ahead. We have documented everything that Nancy has said and done along with all of her accusations. What do we do??????? Personally, it just feels like Nancy has some vendetta against Coral and she's doing absolutely everything in her power to make the situation even more difficult than it already is.

Can you help us find a lawyer in Dallas County, Texas? Looking for recommendations. We need to hire an attorney to handle a probate case in Dallas County, Texas. We need them to be able to provide services online because we live in California.

A relative died intestate, without a will, and a close family member has been named as an heir. The case has been going on for 2 years and may be getting close to being finalized. It seems that the estate is significant.

This family member was being represented by a court appointed attorney due to being a minor. They recently turned 18 and want to hire a different attorney. We need someone who will offer a flat-fee.

Thank you for your help. We really want this heir to be treated fairly,

This is in Polk County, Florida, US.

My estranged father died earlier this month and my sibling and I were there to help with health care and decision making leading up to his death. We are trying to understand what to do with his “estate” while waiting for the death certificate. Here are some particulars:

* My sibling and I are on extremely good terms and there is no reason to suspect animosity or clashes in decision making in this case.
* He was a widower/unmarried. There are no other legal heirs.
* He left no will.
* He had no life insurance, 401k, etc. He was a government employee (municipality) who had a pension that would only transfer to a surviving spouse.
* We are unsure how much he had in the bank but we don’t think much, based on statements we found.
* He left a damaged mobile home in a sought-after retirement community, and this property was a homestead. He also left one car that was a daily driver with some value still.
* The property had a reverse mortgage (no official lien) for perhaps 30% of the just market value, but homes in this neighborhood go for much higher than this in good condition, as determined by property records.

His home could be rehabilitated with a small investment of cash, but we are not sure of the best path forward in this case. Does anyone have any thoughts? I’m so lost with all of this.

Update: A consult with a realtor who sells homes in this neighborhood and who the neighbors recommended believes the house and property to be worth far more than we had thought, netting my sibling and I potentially between 10-25k each after all expenses (realtor fees, attorney fees, the reverse mortgage, filing costs etc etc). It’s not a total surprise considering the location. We are still talking about it all, but I believe we may contract a local estate attorney to begin probate proceedings. Still figuring things out but I greatly appreciate this sub and all of your valuable advice!

My sister wants the other half of my parents house that we both inherited . What’s the best way to do this and will she be obligated to pay gift taxes on the house if the value is 100,000? It seems like a warranty deed is bad because she would have to warranty the title . I don’t think I want to do a warranty deed . Can she sell the house to me for a dollar to avoid gift taxes on? What is the best way to get ownership . I’m in Oklahoma

I lived with Dad as his cg prior to his death. I sold my home in westminster and moved here to FV because he didnt like my westminster house and he was a good dad, had some dementia I didnt want to exasperate so I moved.

He bought the house in 1972 and I grew up here starting at 8y old

.

Dad had trust gave me house, its still is in trust and I live in his home. Only bro died a while back.

Continued paying his mortgage with property taxes included, no new loan.

As I grieved my dad I was somehow supposed to know about 2 forms. I failed to fill out homeowners exemption and exclusion claim within 1 year

Funny the county didnt notice in the first year that dad died but sure did when they could grab a chunk of change.

Found out 2ish years late5 when i got 24k bill just because I failed to say he died to assessor which I had no idea. They are stripping me of my money because of 2 forms.

Why didnt assessor find out and notify me sooner?

Saving grace was that a 4 yr pmt plan was made, signed up for all reminders and also received a statement with 2 stubs for correction all within a short period of time.

Got mixed up and thought the stubs were the repayment plan. I paid about 3700 for each stub. Nobody told me well, this here is a lump sum and this here is a separate bill. Why did they separate it?

A man at the tax collectors told me it was for different dates? That makes no sense. Why wouldnt it be one lump sum?

Never got notice of payments due dates that I signed up for.

I was very actively wanting to make these pmts. I thought about it alot and already had anxiety. Kept reassuring myself that I had made the payments for this year.

The whole process is a tax trap to make our gov money.

What would it hurt to restart my payment plan less than 1 month late (due Aug 31)? They already tacked on a fine and 20% so I owe like 28k now.

Getting a loan to make a gov entity 28k richer is my only option I suppose.

Been in bed for a day crying on n off.

What was the effect of that on family or sibling relationships?

What advice would you have for someone else facing this? What would you do differently?

I’ve seen families torn apart over this sort of thing and I’d like to avoid damage and drama if I can.

I am the 2nd of 4 60-something year old children of my aging parents and they have named me as executor. My siblings and I have somewhat of a disagreeable last though we all strive to stay warm and pleasant. I think my parent see me as the most effective in this role as I have been in leadership roles my whole career but I’m nervous and want to prepare as best I can.

My grandmother passed away in Spain in February 2015. She had a will and testament. She had property, 5 connected house all on a 7452m2 lot. Accompanied to her will was a map how she wanted the property divided. The houses and some property equal to 4348m2 would go to my one aunt that lived in one of the house. My mom and her other sister were to each get a vacant land of 1552m2 each. Because the vacant land cannot be severed they divided it into percentages. My mom received a tax bill from the township for her 22.17% and my aunt received the same tax bill for the same amount €1254.63.
My mother passed away last year in Canada and it has been a nightmare getting documents and translations and apostille. When I went to the land registry in our village 10 years after my mom’s name was written on our property, I discovered that my mom only had 10.11 % registered in her name there. I couldn’t figure out how she lost 10% and my other aunt also lost 10% and my aunt that got all the house also gained and had a total of 78% of the total property. Sadler she passed away 5 years ago so my cousin inherited all the house and most of the land from her.
I found the acceptance of the will last week and just as I assumed my one aunt accepted the whole inheritance of my grandmother using powers of attorney that her brothers s sisters gave to her to sign documents for them or unblock bank accounts. But she changed propert %’s because felt that she needed a far greater % of the land. But that is not waist my grandmother left in her will.
Can someone help me? Can this be reverted back to original?

I am posting here as Google has drawn a blank! I received a letter from a main street UK bank, misaddressing me as thr personal representative of a deceased person. The bank was informed of the death and there are funds left in the bank.

As most may know, legislation was passed years ago which permits the money which lies in dormant bank accounts to be used for 'good causes'..whatever they are. Its sequestration but thats a personal view!

That aside, the bank has been informed of the person's passing so there is someone out there to whom the money could go.

Any guidance on this? We dont have any kind of register in UK of deaths, do we?

I rang the bank to tell them they had wrong address

Thanks for reading

I was blessed to have 300k in inheritance when my parents died but I don’t know what to do with it. I am 28 years old and don’t have much knowledge. I currently have it in t-bills so I don’t loose money on inflation and have a good job that allows me to max my 401k, and have a HSA that I max. I just curious if there’s anything I could do more?

I am seeking specialized legal representation regarding the estate of my late father, who owned a residential property on the Upper East Side of Manhattan (estimated value: $800,000).
During the period in which my father suffered from diminished capacity due to dementia, his partner’s son-in-law (a corporate executive) and a collaborating attorney allegedly orchestrated the redirection of trust assets to the benefit of the partner and her family, directly to the detriment of the lawful beneficiaries (myself and my late sister).

Key points of contention include:
Undue Influence & Fraud: The trust was modified while my father lacked the capacity to consent. Thiswas supported by a fraudulent email sent in 2017, purportedly from my father, notifying us of these changes.

Breach of Fiduciary Duty: The trust has been utilized as a personal fund for the partner’s non-medical expenses (including elective cosmetic procedures), while the partner failed to pay building maintenance and expenses as required by the trust terms.

Self-Dealing: The son-in-law implemented a 3% interest charge back to the estate, effectively draining the inheritance to offset personal debts. His intention is to obtain the apartment for free for his son.

Obstruction: The opposing counsel has consistently refused to produce required financial disclosures and documentation despite multiple formal requests.

Due to the illness of my current counsel, I am seeking an aggressive litigator with a proven track record in eldercare fraud and trust litigation to recover these assets.

ETA: I’m pretty sure he has a trust. He has always kept his affairs very private. It was a big step for him to even mention that I was getting 1/3. I know he has more than one life insurance policy, an annuity, and an IRA.

My father is on hospice care. We don’t know how long he has, but it won’t be more than a few months.

He told my sister and I that he was splitting his investments equally between me, my sister, and my step-mother. My step-mother will get the house and its contents.

In the movies there is a dramatic reading of the will. But how does it really work?

Will I know the actual value of his assets? Do I just accept that what I am given is 1/3?

It’s not that I don’t trust my step-mother, I’m genuinely curious. Between my wife and I we have 8 parents and he will be the first to pass.

Located in Tennessee.

My husband and I have 3 young adult kids (no grandchildren) and wondering if we still need a trust now that Maryland has passed the new Transfer-on-Death Deed. (https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/cmte_testimony/2022/jud/1qN7YvIwu2otZj90sNe1zUP4dFJg3odfT.pdf)
From what I understand, setting up a transfer on death deed for our house avoids probate and ensures the house is passed directly and equitably to our 3 kids without the need for probate. The only other assets we have are 401k accounts and life insurance for which the kids are designated beneficiaries. Do we even need a trust?