waiting to collect cash inheritance

i have been waiting for 2.4 years for a cash inheritance from mothers estate. The estate attorneys say they have to file the taxes and there was some problems with back taxes. They say i have to wait. there is plenty of cash in the estate. i dont understand why it can take this long for me to be paid.

Who hired the attorney?

Who is executor--have you pushed him or her for answers.

File or fileD taxes--reads as if executor has yet to file--ouch!

True it takes time for tax issues to get settled--but unless its a big estate or very sticky matter --2+ years seems on long side of equation.

Normally executors don't distribute until all the dust has settled. No fun to round it back up if estate runs short re bills!

But in some states and cases if say the estate holds 10 X net of bills and there is some question about X then to go ahead and distribute say 8X and hold back 2X might be considered safe. But its sort of up to executor.  Ask executor about the timeframes.....

original attorney was family attorney. Partner in firm. He left firm and two other attorneys from the original firm took over.

thank you for your reply. Keep getting the brush off from executor and attorneys. When i have my attorney call i get a bill for 75.00+ for him to call me and say they are still working on it. there is little debt, executor fees and attorney fees. i was told about 6 months after DOD taxes were filed and paid in a timely matter. these are all six figure accounts there was stocks, cash, private company stock and loans to company and realestate totalling high 6 almost 7 figure. im only looking at getting low 6. i received life insurance but as you know that avoids probate.

how can i force them to give me a date for payment. executor is not friendly with me. when i pushed for a date, was on phone, executor screamed dont threaten me, dont threaten me. i think trying to put bad light on me only recording her voice not mine. even if mine was recorded i know better than to threaten someone. told me to call personal lawyer if i had anything to say. so i did. he said im not a message service, call yourself.

So call and write executor every other day  --and use estates attorney if he says call attorney--why use yours ----executor should have some handle on when they expect to get it sorted out--he hired counsel, if counsel is asleep at switch , its executors job to get them moving (want to bet its moving slow because of who gets what fee issues?)

Your post is NOT clear--taxes have been paid or are yet to be paid?

What taxes? Federal estate taxes?  Must be decent size estate??

I believe it was federal estate taxes. They had to do an inventory by a certain date so they could file taxes.They filed extensions several times and then taxes were paid.

I cannot contact the executor, we have a bad past. Should I write a letter asking for my inheritance or demanding it from the estate attorneys? They do not return my calls and are always out of reach when I call. I would go there in person but I do not live in that state anymore.

Do I have to sue estate and if so how would I do that?  What would it be called. I know there is small claims court, but I dont think that is the venue. What court would that be in? I would have to use my attorney and not the estates. Keep in mind the original estate attorney I knew was a partner, he left the firm and two others have taken over.

thank you for the help

Should I contact the ACLU?  If so what can they do?

Original family attorney

Almost seems like the executor and the executor's lawyer are content to drag things out and extend the potential fees that they collect.

Anything you do in court you'll have to do in the probate court where the estate is being filed.

If you feel that there is hanky panky going on you are free to file a petition, or an order to show cause, with the probate court to get the judge to look into the delay.

But you will need your lawyer to do that. If you don't like paying your lawyer to protect your interests, especially with the kind of money involved, then I don't know what to tell you.

You mention that there were stock and cash accounts. Were any of those accounts set up with you as a beneficiary. Those would also have avoided probate.

waitedtolong:

Should I contact the ACLU? If so what can they do?

No. This is not something the ACLU would deal with. The deal with civil liberty matters, which primarly means violations of rights by the government. This is simply a probate matter. If the estate is large enough for federal estate tax or if the decedent had outstanding income tax issues, then the settlement of the estate may take awhile. Let me explain a few things about taxes and estates that may help you better understand the executor's situation.

Federal estate taxes have the highest claim on the estate other than funeral expenses and certain administrative expenses. Other federal taxes similarly have a very high priority, ahead of most other claims to the estate. The executor is resposible for ensuring that ALL the decedent's taxes are paid before distributing property to beneficiaries. If the executor makes a distribution to you and other heirs and then is unable to pay the taxes, the executor then becomes personally liable to the IRS at least to the extent of the amount that was distributed.

So, well advised executors take great care to make sure the taxes are paid. Before they make significant distributions, a careful executor will obtain a clearance letter from the IRS. This letter tells the executor that the IRS has examined its records for the decedent and the estate and that all taxes are filed and paid. This then frees the executor to make distributions without worry of liability to the U.S. If there are no problems, it takes approximately 6-9 months after the request is made to get the letter.

Before granting the request, however, the IRS may decide to audit either the estate tax return or one of the decedent's income tax returns. Indeed, for estates that are large enough that they may be subject to federal estate tax, the audit rate is very high. If the IRS selects one or more returns to audit, it can easily take a year or two to get that resolved; more if the issues are especially complex or if the matter goes to litigation.

I don't like Drew's suggestion that you write or call the attorney or executor every other day. That's a terrible idea, IMO. Being an attorney and having been an executor, I'll tell you what my reaction to that would be. You'd quickly become persona non grata as far as I was concerned; I'd completely ignore your communications and provide you only the bare minimum information that the probate law required. Thus, in my view that would be counterproductive for you.

If you've not made a request yet in writing, I suggest you write a polite letter to the executor requesting the status of the estate and when the executor thought distributions might be made. If the executor provides some information sufficient to explain what's going on, then that's great. If the executor doesn't answer or provides a meaningless response, then I think you want to see your lawyer about the possibility of filing an action to compel distribution or some other action with the probate court that will help nudge the executor along.

Thank you taxagent. I will try that approach.That sounds more effective.

Is an estate public record that I could try to see what filings they have been made and when? This may give me an idea of where they are at. I would check with the county clerks office? Can I request a copy of a clearance letter?

Thank you again

Thank you Adjuster Jack.

I thought the same thing about fees. I will see what response I get from a request letter then have my lawyer go ahead with filing the petition depending on the response.

The stocks were not set up as POD. If I ask about the status of the stock and cash accounts are they required to give me that information?

Appreciate the quick replies.

I'm not sure I'd turn on my attorneys billing meter just yet...I'd do more digging into probate files and making written requests upon executor as to status .

Estate attorney is NOT there to respond to you.

Well I agree with taxagent --once a day is too much---I meant with a grain of salt--be persistent with executor via a written trail about getting answers!

I would not rule out an internal fee problem if "original" lawyer retired.

waitedtolong:

Is an estate public record that I could try to see what filings they have been made and when? This may give me an idea of where they are at. I would check with the county clerks office? Can I request a copy of a clearance letter?

Yes, the estate probate is public record.

You will find the case file at the probate court.

You can review the file and obtain copies of everything.

It's probably a good idea to monitor the file periodically. You might be able to bring up the docket online to see when additional filings are made.

As always, you can certainly request a copy of the clearance letter, whether you get it or not is up to the executor. Eventually, that clearance letter might be filed with the court and appear in the probate file.

waitedtolong:

I thought the same thing about fees. I will see what response I get from a request letter then have my lawyer go ahead with filing the petition depending on the response. The stocks were not set up as POD. If I ask about the status of the stock and cash accounts are they required to give me that information?

Well, given Taxagent's comments and your earlier comment that the estate could be 6 or 7 figures (close to a million or more) the tax thing might just be a good reason for the delay and you might just have to be patient.

Meantime check out the case file and see what you can learn. I certainly wouldn't recommend any "pushing" without knowing what's in the file.

I also agree that "pushing" too hard could be counterproductive as the executor really has no obligation to the beneficiaries of the estate beyond just the legal obligations. He really doesn't have to give you the time of day till the estate is settled ready to be distributed.