Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Illinois
Looking for legal info: my wife's mother died in feb 2014. the youngest was granted administrator in june 2014. there has been no correspondence with any of the other 3 sblings since nov 2013 at time of mothers illness. my wife was not included in any furneral arrangement or the opportunity to go through any personal items at the house until others had done so.was told by administrators lawyer she only entitled to what was in the estate(house,car and personal items at house). to be split four ways. no will. does she have a legal right to obtain info about her mothers checking account, cd's, annuity's and any other financial info. she would like to know when and if any accounts were closed or transfered and to who. there has been absolutely no direct communication from the administrator on any thing. what info is she legally entitled to and how do we get it??? the house and car only worth about $35,000 or less
possible cd"s 3 at 20,000 ????--- annuity starting at $41,000 less funeral and expenses.
2 Answers from Attorneys
You will need to hire a lawyer to represent you in court to demand an accounting of all funds and other items in the Estate. You need to remember, however, that if Mother left any assets in joint tenancy with another person that at the moment of death those assets passed out of the Estate and became the sole property of the other joint tenant. Doesn't matter if it was one dollar or a million dollars.
Before closing the Estate, an Administrator in a Probate Estate is required to provide the following to each heir of the Estate who is getting a percentage of the Estate: (1) an Inventory (which shows the state of all assets on date of death) and (2) an Account (which shows all credits and debits to all assets from date of death to date of distribution to heirs). Sometimes, upon request, that Administrator will also provide copies of all bank statements and other relevant documents for assets in the Estate (or even assets not in the Estate, which may include those CDs and the annuity), even though the Administrator is not specifically required to do so. If your Administrator refuses a request for bank statements, you may still be able to get access to them if you hire an attorney to assist you.
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