QUESTION
What can I do if I feel that the attorney is spending unnecessary money for the estate?
Asked on Jan 27th, 2012 on Estate Planning - Ohio
More details to this question:
My Great aunt passed away 8 years ago. The attorney handling the estate has been dragging his heels and I believe he has misappropriated funds. He is hiring his son to do yard work and paying him $300 a month as well as hiring other yard workers. He has bought 3 lawnmowers for the property which is not that big. There are a lot of bills he is paying that don't make sense. I don't think that an attorney should have that much power over her estate with no supervision. Not this long of a time and then he keeps coming up with "relatives" to distribute money. Can I ask him to prove that all he is spending is necessary? What rights do the true relatives have versus some attorney that we all suspect is stealing?
1 ANSWER
Trust Attorney serving Cincinnati, OH
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Paul A. Nidich Attorney at Law
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First: Is the attorney the Executor of the Estate? If not, he has no authority to spend any money. Second, if this is a true Estate and not a Trust, the Executor is required to make periodic reports of income and expenditures to the Probate Court. These are public records, and many courts have these documents available on the Court's web site. Third, you or someone on your behalf should go to the Probate Court and talk to a Magistrate, or a Clerk, or the Judge, if it's a small county and this is possible. Of course, I am assuming you are named a beneficiary under your great-aunt's will, or if she did not have a will, that you are entitled to inherit under the statute of descent and distribution.
Answered on Feb 15th, 2012 at 2:17 PM