Without a will, an executor can be appointed but the process takes six to eight months or more if there is infighting. In the mean time estate bills have to be paid but no one can sign the cheques. No longer needed vehicles can't be sold and insurance policies can't be cancelled. Interest accrues.
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Probate lawyer?
- Thread starter spitRR
- Start date
AllistonGT
Well-known member
I'll expand on that. About 1/2 of law firms keep the original. Law society states they must have fireproof safes to store wills in.
What is your word or handshake worth?
A friend's widowed father had a nice house and an equal bundle of investments. The friend had a sister and they agreed that she got the money and him the house.....................until TO real estate took off.
My mother's estate was settled 99% problem free. I got shafted on some trinkets and a hundred dollars cash. Not worth a fight or even mentioning.
What if there is an undocumented family agreement on who gets what and values change?
A few hundred dollars IMO isn't worth a fight or bad feelings but what if the values swung to four figures or five or six? Is there a point where you say the original handshake is null and void? What if the door swung the other way favouring you?
My favourite joke is about the office jerk that keeps hitting on the office bimbo, constantly getting rejected.
One morning he dances into the office waving a lottery ticket and shouting "I won, I won." He sees the come hither look in the bimbo's eyes and approaches her suggesting a dirty weekend if he shared the prize. She agrees.
He then clarifies it is a winning ticket but only for $50 and her share would be $25. She tells him to buzz off saying "What do you think I am?"
He replies "We've established what you are. We're just negotiating price."
Does everyone have a price?
A friend's widowed father had a nice house and an equal bundle of investments. The friend had a sister and they agreed that she got the money and him the house.....................until TO real estate took off.
My mother's estate was settled 99% problem free. I got shafted on some trinkets and a hundred dollars cash. Not worth a fight or even mentioning.
What if there is an undocumented family agreement on who gets what and values change?
A few hundred dollars IMO isn't worth a fight or bad feelings but what if the values swung to four figures or five or six? Is there a point where you say the original handshake is null and void? What if the door swung the other way favouring you?
My favourite joke is about the office jerk that keeps hitting on the office bimbo, constantly getting rejected.
One morning he dances into the office waving a lottery ticket and shouting "I won, I won." He sees the come hither look in the bimbo's eyes and approaches her suggesting a dirty weekend if he shared the prize. She agrees.
He then clarifies it is a winning ticket but only for $50 and her share would be $25. She tells him to buzz off saying "What do you think I am?"
He replies "We've established what you are. We're just negotiating price."
Does everyone have a price?
Before my mother passed my 3 sisters and I decided to put Mom's condo in our names to avoid probate hassles (Mom was 100% on board). For whatever reason the lawyer needed to witness my signature, which meant a drive into Toronto. Eff that!
The condo went into my sisters names and when Mom died they owned the condo and my youngest sister decided she wanted it. She made a very reasonable offer and bought the 3 of us out.
If you can trust family life is a lot easier.
FTFY
TK4
Well-known member
Before my dad died, he had the foresight to sell the house. My brother, who had never had another mailing address his entire life, put up quite a fuss and didn't even help with the cleanup/clear out. He left all the heavy lifting to my sister and I. Bro was quite happy to take his cut of the $$$ however. As executor, I was in charge and had signing privileges. It's all fun and games until the dollar signs show up on the display.
So many variables on this stuff , our family lawyer keeps no copies of wills , his group says " i retire and all your paperwork hits a dumpster, you keep it" , and Im guessing if a fire proof safe is rwe had manequired, one big enough for 5,000? will is a big safe.
when being executor on a will , your allowed certain costs that you can expense against thge estate . Many do it for good faith, we held many dinners at the Keg for F_I_L , discussing the estate......
when being executor on a will , your allowed certain costs that you can expense against thge estate . Many do it for good faith, we held many dinners at the Keg for F_I_L , discussing the estate......
Sorry for your loss and this situation is ******.
If you haven't already obtained council, I recommend Paul Huckins. Straight shooter, no time wasted, no bullsh1t, no nonsense, won't haul you over the coals either.
If you haven't already obtained council, I recommend Paul Huckins. Straight shooter, no time wasted, no bullsh1t, no nonsense, won't haul you over the coals either.
The catch is possible capital gains but the probate offset is probably worth it. There are many things that can be done to avoid carrying costs if all parties can be trusted. You only find out how bad people can be if someone reneges on their part of the deal.
AllistonGT
Well-known member
Law society has rules. When a lawyer retires, files are rarely destroyed. Either prearranged to go to another law firm or the law society takes them. Fire proof file cabinets. Sorry not safes.
I’m never surprised by the number of lawyers that don’t actually follow the law society’s rules . My best friend is a former lawyer , he was accelerating funds around probate to “ help families “ , and take a small commission, the law society suggested he resign form the bar.
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No cap gains for me as the property was never in my name.
A warning! This is a public forum and if your sister's lawyer finds this thread via Google she will know your thoughts.
Another member was contemplating legal action and there was a thread going. I did a Google search with a few of the posted details and first in line was the GTAM thread.
I'm not sure where the legal fee money comes from if there is no will to challenge or defend. If the fights are funded by the estate and the estate runs out of money the house gets sold to pay the lawyers.
With my M-I-Ls will the discussions we had with a very competent (And expensive ) lawyer outlined how the case would proceed. There could be without prejudice meetings, negotiation meetings, disclosures and final hearings. The costs of each meeting could be over five figures with no guarantee of end results and who pays the legal costs.
I suspect my B-I-L lost more in legal costs than he gained in the settlement. Everyone in the family knew what a POS he was but the courts ignore the "He said, she said, around the dinner table" discussions.
This is a motorcycle forum. There are also "How to screw your siblings out of inheritances" forums. People that live in their parent's basements usually have more time for research than people that have actual jobs.
Wow, there's quite a bit to digest in this thread.
Thx everyone for the insight, suggestions and condolences; its appreciated.
Thx Nobbie for the concern. I wrote my post with very few details for that very reason.
Anyhow after speaking to a lawyer, it looks like I'm SOL as she was joint tenant and not tenant in common.
Thx again GTAM!
@spitRR , sorry to hear you are SOL. None of this is fun .
Extended side of my family had a farm corporation, involved 200 prime acres outside London, rental property, contracted land . Mom ,pop and three children , two kids leave farm for careers , 3 rd has career that includes managing the farm. Mom / Pop pass away and two kids find out the corporation has a survivor clause , everything is in kid 3s name. Lawyer advised walk away .
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Extended side of my family had a farm corporation, involved 200 prime acres outside London, rental property, contracted land . Mom ,pop and three children , two kids leave farm for careers , 3 rd has career that includes managing the farm. Mom / Pop pass away and two kids find out the corporation has a survivor clause , everything is in kid 3s name. Lawyer advised walk away .
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As much as that hurts it beats spending a fortune fighting a losing cause.
Accepting the inevitable is easier if there was no intent to cut the siblings out with nothing. In the above case there may have been non farm assets to be distributed. Did kid #3 keep the farm corporation from going belly up and therefore deserves the lion's share?
In other cases there is intent from the get go when a dependent moves in and bullies a new will, grabbing everything. Mom refuses to accept that the helpful child would take advantage of the situation and the family is destroyed.
My F-I-L died young but left the family home and three rental properties to my M-I-L for income.
He should have left the three rental properties, one to each of his kids, with the stipulation that the net rental income would go to my M-I-L. With the three properties being a cooperative concept, no one wanted to take care of the places and M-I-L ended up selling them off.
My B-I-L bullied my M-I-L into willing him control of the estate, letting him live in the family home as long as he wanted. Only when he could no longer keep the place up would the house be sold and assets shared. That could have been 20 years. Twenty years of hell for the executor and no inheritance for the other heirs.
The reason was my B-I-L couldn't buy a place of his own with his share and he was so in debt creditors would have wiped him out anyway. They couldn't touch anything as long as his share was tied up in the estate.
Fortunately M-I-L saw the light and changed her will and the fight ensued, eating up a major chunk of the already diminished estate.
Thought: When nearing the time you don't want any more aggravation in life give away your estate to whoever you want. They in turn post bonds to cover your living expenses. You die and the bonds die. All the "Who gets what" is dealt with when you are there to fight it out without courts and lawyers eating away at the estate value.
Maybe if there is dead wood in the family tree the process should start earlier so the dead wood can work towards being able to meet the qualifications.
Having all your **** in order before you die is a great gift for your family. They should know what your expectations are and where to find all the necessary details.
Sure, death is a morbid thought for most but it's inevitable.
I should have a lot of time left on my clock but my family knows exactly what to do.
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Sure, death is a morbid thought for most but it's inevitable.
I should have a lot of time left on my clock but my family knows exactly what to do.
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Same , I not planning on going anywhere soon, but my cleanup is very organized. I’ll make sure if I see it coming to get big ticket stuff gone , nothing like the kids getting a travel trailer when they live in a different province or a boat sitting in Florida costing 9k a yr . And worth 3k ……
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Sent from my iPhone using GTAMotorcycle.com
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