My aunt passed & myself & another nephew supposed to be left estate, but no will was made. Now come to find out the other nephew's name was POD/ITF on both bank accounts.She has seen that nephew once or twice her entire life & i was part of her life as she lived across the street as i was growing up. He lives about 600 miles away & did not even attend funeral or send flowers.I made all the funeral arrangements, got a priest to give last rites, she asked for me on her death bed & i was at her side when she passed.I also visited her at least twice a week while she was in the hospital/nursing home for about a month, as she lived about 100 miles away. I hired a sitter at $13.00 hr. to sit with my wife as my wife has several health issues,so it was pretty costly[retired on fixed income] spending at least $100 or more plus gasoline each trip.She told a few of her friends that she was leaving everything to the 2 of us & nothing to a sister that she despised & has not spoke/seen to in over 20 yrs.She asked me on several occassions to be the executor of her estate,i told her ok just let me know when you write your will.Well she passed with no will, BUT GUESS WHO stepped in to be the administrator of her estate? HER SISTER, who my aunt did not want to know anything about her being hospitalized. The other nephew got left over $200,000[both bank accts]. At first i told him $120,000 was left to him as that was in one of the accts & his reply was WHY ME? Now come to find out he got both bank accts over $200,000. Here is the KICKER i found in some of my aunts belongings a document where she was hospitalized in Oct,05 [found by a friend after falling] & given an evaluation of competency & found to be incompetent & with dementia & a medical power of attorney was appointed, that was in oct.2005. She had the other nephews name put on both bank acct.in nov. 2008, 3 years after being found with dementia & incompetent by a licensed clinicl psychologist.I have spoke with the atty that is handling the estate & he suggested that i talk to the other nephew about him sharing some of the $200,000 with me instead of me contesting it & if i should win that it would all go to the estate & split 3 ways instead of maybe sharing some with me, i would be happy with 1/3 & he 2/3 with out going to court.I have been long winded enough but from what i have told you, your opinions [not smart]are welcome.Oh, she lives in ohio, whatever laws apply.
I kept waiting for the "just wire me $500 and the entire fortune will be yours".
In all seriousness, I am sorry about your loss. My parents went through something similar with my grandfathers widowed 2nd wife.
She was trying to get my father and grandfathers business put into the estate. My father had made $2000 monthly royalty payments for 20 years.
He had no proof except for checks. The presiding ruled in my fathers favor but they had to go to costly lengths to win.
I imagine paying a GOOD attorney will be well worth it in this scenario, not to mention if you have documented your expenses, time and travel efforts to comfort the deceased. The courts are usually morons about things, but they can be fair if you can establish certain things.
In all seriousness, I am sorry about your loss. My parents went through something similar with my grandfathers widowed 2nd wife.
She was trying to get my father and grandfathers business put into the estate. My father had made $2000 monthly royalty payments for 20 years.
He had no proof except for checks. The presiding ruled in my fathers favor but they had to go to costly lengths to win.
I imagine paying a GOOD attorney will be well worth it in this scenario, not to mention if you have documented your expenses, time and travel efforts to comfort the deceased. The courts are usually morons about things, but they can be fair if you can establish certain things.
I think that attorney is probably right. If you successfully attack the POD designation, then it becomes an estate asset which passes by intestate succession (sounds like it's 1/3 to you, the other nephew and the sister), so the sister would get 1/3. Convince the other nephew that it's in both of your interest to settle between yourselves and privately.
Also, make sure you file claims against the estate for reimbursement for ALL of your expenses, and do it ASAP because there are time limitations. The funeral expenses should come from estate assets, not out of your pocket.
ProPokerPlayer, It's my 2nd time getting screwed in an estate deal.Got screwed out of over $600,000 about 20 yrs ago. The estate lawyer in this case advised me after i mentioned it to him that he thought it would be a pretty good idea for me to go to the other nephew & tell him that if we can't come to some settlement[he & i] that i was going to contest it & if i would win it would be split 3 ways a third each. But if he & i made an agreement between us he would get 2/3 & i would settle for 1/3 that way he would get $133,332, $66,666 more than a 3 way split or take his chances in court with atty fees to try & get it all, what do you think?
But if he wants to play hardball he'll say to you that the best you'll do in court is 1/3 minus fees so why should he give in and give you the full 1/3? High stakes poker, really. Let him know you have all the documents to easily prove it and are ready to go to court if needed, but you'll probably need to be willing to accept a bit less than the 1/3.
Then again if sister learns of the whole situation she could go to court herself and try to have the POD's brought into the estate. And then, you discussed all of this with the attorney who I take it actually represents this sister. That could be problematic. Technically he probably has a duty to his client and to the estate to notify her and consider taking action on behalf of the estate. What he told you was probably pretty iffy ethically. I guess your theory could be that she intended to name both of you as benes but just messed up. This is kinda tricky. You need to get your own attorney instead of consulting with the estate atty.
D2bets, You are a prety sharp cookie that is exactly what the atty said about it going back into the estate split 3 ways. As far as funeral expenses the estate atty got the other nephew to pay the $10,000 funeral bill out of the $200,000. The estate atty felt that the document that i have of my aunt being incompetent with dementia prior to her putting his name on bank acct's was/is a good bargaining tool & said he would send the other nephews atty a copy of such if they wanted to see it.
So this estate attorney, who represents the sister as administrator, has he not told his client about this whole situation and that the POD accounts are suspect and may be prone to attack by the estate?
And it doesn't sound like there are any other estate assets, or are there? If not, then what is the sister doing as administrator?
D2bets, I asked the sister about contesting it & she said no as her husband just had major surgery on one of his lungs they are both about 75 yrs old. She went on to say to do as i wanted as she has enough on her plate now. The estate atty also advised me that if the other nephew & i could not come to an agreement that is is best/ he would recommend another atty to represent me in the matter. By the way i am the one who contacted this estate atty[ he being familiar] to do the estate as he did my aunt's deceased husbands estate, as at the time my aunt passed i was supposedly going to be the administrator as the deceased aunt's sister & aunt marge had not spoke in over 20 yrs. But she decided at the last minute to be the adm. i believe to screw me out of any money for being as such
Ah she may have said do as you want, but do you really trust her? If she's evil, she'll let you guys settle and then waltz in and say that she gets 1/3 from both of you and that it belongs legally in the estate and not just to the two or you. Just playing devil's advocate. You could be getting set up to get screwed. Even though you contacted this estate attorney, his "client" is the sister and his duties and loyalties are legally to her.
Plus, like I said, are there any other assets in the estate? Is the sister going to get anything? It sounded like the nephew covered the 10K funeral because there were no other funds?
I would get your own separate attorney lined up ASAP.
D2bets, Man i should hire you,lol, yes there was the residence that was just closed on today & after expenses there will be approx $75,000 to be split 3 ways. The sister [also my aunt] the adm. is aware of everything, she has hard feelings toward me as my aunt that passed forbid me to tell her sister anything about her illness. But her, being next of kin was notified when aunt marge was hospitalized & she told me she would call the nurses station once or twice a week to see how aunt marge was doing.After aunt marge passed i told her that aunt marge did not want her to know anything & forbid me telling her anything so i believe she is pissed at me & also read her notes that aunt marge used to mail me before going into hospital about how she was leaving everything to the other nephew & myself & to no one else & also about the document i have about aunt marge being incompetent.
The nephew covered the funeral expenses as the atty told him there was not enough to cover the funeral until real estate was sold as there was about $8000 in the checking acct with maybe $3000 in expenses to be paid.What would be your presentation to the other nephew from me to him about coming to some out of court settlement as the estate atty said that happens a lot instead of going to court, what /how would you present it to him?
pretty sure your screwed, she never made a new will and her death bed type comments go out the window if you argue she had dementia in 05, if she was not proven to be of sound mind when she made those comments to you. So basically your argument against your other nephew is what would kill your case too. Id honestly say your best bet is to blackmail the other nephew into paying you. Tell him you will contest her leave to him and if she is found unstable, her property will go to her closest living relative, her sister. Im sure neither of you want to see her get the money, so some type of deal will be struck
kidman232, That is exactly what i am going to do, is to tell him that if he & i can't come to some agreement that i intend on taking it to court & with the incompetent document that i have there stands a good chance that the $200,000 will be put into the estate & have to be split 3 ways between the sister & he & i,as we are the children [he & i ] of a deceased sister & a brother of the deceased,that is the ohio law.
