Ohio Estate Planning Legal Questions

Until the estate is settled and title to the property is turned over to the heirs or is sold and the proceeds are turned over to the heirs, the executor is within his or her rights to require any resident on the property to pay rent. A family member who is executor might ignore this but the attorney is ethically required to obey the law and do his or her best to protect the assets of the estate. It is possible that elder daughter is still the executor of the estate and the attorney is her agent in the matter. If that's the case, elder daughter may be able to direct the attorney to allow younger daughter and her children to remain rent-free until the estate is settled. The cost of the attorney should be paid from from the assets of the grandfather's estate.... Read More

The first place to look is his tax return, that will show if he had any accounts that paid interest to him last year. The next is his mail, bank accounts, insurance policies, IRAs etc. often send statements and other notices, you should check these for at least a year. The third is his email accounts because many people have online rather than paper statements.... Read More

You would need to open up a probate estate in the county where your mother resided. First you must decide who apply to be the administrator of her estate, if she did not have a will, or as her executrix if she did have a will. Once you are appointed as the fiduciary of her estate, you will have access to her accounts. You will have no right to go into her accounts until you are appointed. If you need assistance, I would be happy to assist you.... Read More

You are not responsible for paying his bills with your own money. As guardian, you'd be responsible for paying his bills with his money, and if there isn't enough money, to either arrange more income (medicaid, for example) or to reduce his expenses. Having an attorney appointed as guardian is certainly easier than doing it yourself but it's very expensive. Unless your uncle has a large income and/or significant assets, have a probate attorney help you apply to be the guardian. As a guardian, you can't write a will for your ward or make gifts of his property. If he's competent enough to make a will (a person can be competent to make a will but not competent enough to make medical or financial decisions), you can arrange for him to make a will.... Read More

Yes, you need to either open up a probate estate for your father or if the value of the property is below a certain amount, you can file for a relief from administration. Either way, you need to apply for a certificate of transfer from the court in order to transfer your father's half of the property to your name. You also need to probate his will in the probate court in which your father resided at the time of his death. If you would like assistance with this matter, you can contact my office.... Read More

It is legal for the executor to control the property. But you can challenge his appointment as executor, particularly if he has been stealing items from the house. Be aware that when family members disagree on who should be executor, the judge often appoints a crony as executor and the fees will be EXTREMELY high.... Read More

The answer would depend on what is stated in your mother's will. If it states that her will that a predeceased, their share passes "per capita", or is divided amount the surviving children, then the other two siblings would inherit his share. However, if it states that a predeceased child's share passes "per stirpes", his share would pass to his children. Please let me know if you have any further questions.... Read More

The first issue is whether the written terms of the POA authorized her to make gifts. If it doesn't then the person with the POA (the attorney-in-fact had no authority to give you the bike and you'll have to give it back. The next issue is by "bike" do you mean motorcycle or bicycle? It actually makes a difference. A motorcycle has a title, in order to make a gift of a motorcycle, the attorney-in-fact needed to sign the title over to you. If you got the title, the bike is yours. A bicycle doesn't have a title, in order to make a gift of a bicycle, the attorney-in-fact needed to give you possession of the bicycle along with saying (or better writing) that's it's a gift. Of course, as with every legal question, I'm assuming that you weren't holding the attorney-in-fact at gunpoint or you didn't con her by claiming to collecting for a charity or something.... Read More

In order to get the deed in your name, you would need to open a probate estate in the county where your grandfather resided. If he had a will, that would also need to be probated. If not, then his estate would pass by the laws of intestate succession. Although you have paid taxes for 25 years and had an oral agreement, it may be complicated to get the property transferred if there is not cooperation of the other next of kin. You have a great case but it may not be a simple matter if there is not cooperation from your relatives. You may contact me for assistance. If not, then good luck!... Read More

Your relationship with your grandmother doesn't have any effect on the disposition of her remains. The law, wisely in my view, doesn't attempt to judge the interpersonal relationships and affections of the deceased in the absence of specific direction from her. After all, she is no longer there to testify on her own behalf and the court would only get half the story from the survivors. When the will is silent on the disposition of her remains, her next of kin - not the executor - have the right to determine the disposition of your grandmother's remains. Her next of kin would be her children as a group, if 2 of the 3 agree to give you a small portion, then the 3rd would be powerless to stop them. Since your aunt seems to have possession of the ashes, it might be necessary to go to court to enforce your rights.... Read More

Lifetime gifts which are intended to reduce the recipient's inheritance must be acknowledged in writing by the giver or the recipient at the time the gift is made. So if your parents didn't write it down or you and your siblings didn't write it down back when the gifts were first made, then those gifts don't reduce any of your inheritances. Usually, when someone gives a gift which is intended to reduce an inheritance, they contact their attorney and get it written formally as a codicil to their will. If it was written at the time of the gift, then the written acknowledgement would be the evidence of the amount of the gift - not bank statements. If your parent's wrote - "We give our son Tommie $500,000 in cash which will be considered an advancement of his inheritance" then his inheritance would be reduced by $500,000 even if the bank account shows that he was paid $300,000 or $600,000. It doesn't sound as if your parents wrote these things down, so all children would share equally in the inheritance at this point.... Read More

The answer to your question depends on the provisions of the trust. If the trust does not specifically allow you to take early distributions from the trust, it may give the trustee discretion to distribute money under certain circumstances such as this. A review of the trust would be necessary to properly answer your question. If you would like assistance, I would be happy to help.... Read More

In Ohio, every shareholder has the right to examine the books and records of the corporation. Unless you're a CPA who has a lot of time on her hands, usually this means they have to give you the financial statements or to investigate any transactions that appear suspicious to you. I believe that most, if not all, other states have similar laws.... Read More

In Ohio, wills do not need to be notarized, if fact notarizing it would serve no purpose. In Ohio, wills need to be signed at the end and attested to by two adults in the presence the maker. You can file has many wills as you wish with the probate court but there is no need to file a new will simply to have a recent date. Certainly, if circumstances have changed and you changed beneficiaries or wish to specify that certain assets go to certain people, file a new will but there is no need to file an identical will with a new date.... Read More