Tennessee Trusts Legal Questions

To answer this question, there are many more facts that I would need to know in order to answer your question more throughly. Your children might want to consider hiring an attorney to seek an accounting of your sister as trustee as to where the money that was placed in the trust for the upkeep of the property has gone.  She money left in the trust, ie. $10,000, belongs to your children and not the trustee so she can not offer to "buy"  the house for the money left in the trust because this money already belongs to them.... Read More

I am not sure exactly what you are askiing because I am not sure what you mean when you say "estate", conversatoryship or probate? If you are saying that your husband is going to put the property in the name of his children, this would be a conflict and should not be done without the courts approval.... Read More

Leaving you out of a will, family member or not, is not a basis for contesting a will. You have to have some kind of legal basis for doing it such as undue influence, incomptency of testator, etc. Also you have to have standing, that is if the will is struck down that you would then inherit. Consult with an attorney in your county for any additional questions.... Read More

You would need to first open a probate estate in the county/state  where your parents lived. Call me on my cell phone (615-646-9417) if the county they lived is in Tennessee and I will be glad to work with you. If they lived in another state but owned the land in Tennessee, then you would need to first hire an attorney in the county and state where they lived to open a probate estate.... Read More

Yes, you can contact that attorney.  Keep in mind that the attorney represents the nephew in his role as personal representative.  The attorney does not represent your interests.  The nephew has a duty to provide an inventory of estate assets and an accounting, plus copies of court filings and his attorney should assist with this.  Four months is not a long time in probate world, and there is a creditor period of 4-12 months before any assets can be distributed.  The inventory, however, should have been provided to you within 60 days (12-10-16) unless your mother's Will says otherwise.   I'm sorry for your loss and hope you are able to get some answers.  ... Read More

I'm sorry for your loss.  The answer to your question depends on some details you didn't provide.  If your father's total assets are worth less than $25,000, you can use the small estate probate process.  If this is the case, you would sign a court form (I believe it is called a small estate affidavit in Tennessee, that's what it's called in Maine) and provide your father's death certificate to the probate court, you then would receive authority from the court to take control of all of your father's assets, including his personal belongings.  If his assets are worth more than $25,000, you will need to go through probate process to be appointed executor of your father's estate.  Again, you would contact the probate court to obtain the necessary forms.  Go to (or call) the probate court in the county where your father lived.  Nolo.com has some specific informaiton about Tennessee probate process, and the county probate court probably has a website too.  Good luck. ... Read More

that is a hard one to answer because it depends on the  attorneys experience, the amount of time that the attorney has to spend to create the trust, the attorney's hourly rate and the type of assets that you are trying to protect. I would think that the minimum cost would be in the $3,000 range.... Read More

Your mother cannot bequeath property she does not own. If her Will was probated, the court should have discovered the titling issue and ordered it to be corrected. The judge would determine the rightful owner(s). If that should turn out to be both you and your niece, you will not want hard feelings between you because you will have to decide, together, what to do with the property. Make an effort to reconcile with your niece. Remember that she is grieving. Say you have realized that your dispute is not honoring your parents / her grandparents or your brother / her father and you want to find a solution that’s fair to both of you. If you two can make amends, you can go together to a probate lawyer for help to straighten this out. If, as may be possible, the property is found to legally belong to both of you, maybe one can buy the other out, or you can sell it together and split the proceeds according to your legal entitlements. Perhaps you and your niece can find a bit of peace. However, in any event, to clear the title, you will most likely have to probate both your father’s and your mother’s estate. To Your Success, Gale Allison, Principal AttorneyAllison Firm, PLLChttp://www.theallisonfirm.comhttp://www.linkedin.com/in/galeallison.com... Read More

Each state is different but here are a couple of options: 1) file a potion in Court explaining the circumstances and maybe the Judge would order the money to be held. This might be buy conservatorship/guardianship or maybe by a Court ordered trust. This would probably be difficult to get though.  or 2) Just hold the money and don't give it to her.  Worse thing she can do is sue to get the money released. Of course the trustee would potentially be breaching her fiduciary duty so definitely meet with a qualified estate attorney before taking this type of action.... Read More