Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Massachusetts
Wills/trusts/inheritance
An employer has left me money in her will. She died in January 2009. All of my inquiries (email and phone) to her attorney go unanswered. What can I do to find out what my inheritance is and when I will receive it? I am not mercenary but I have good reason to believe the executors of the will
are trying to keep my inheritance from me. Can they do this?
3 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Wills/trusts/inheritance
are you informed that an employer has named you as a beneficiary?
The rules require a filing for probate with a copy of a will. If thus is the case, then find out which court has jurisdiction?
Re: Wills/trusts/inheritance
You or your attorney can check the record of the probate court for the county in which your employer resided for a copy of any Will and/or administration of estate. Good Luck!
Re: Wills/trusts/inheritance
You may want to retain an attorney to investigate whether there was a valid will in existence at the time of death, and compel production of the will, if appropriate.
If you were a beneficiary of the will, you should have been notified by now. You may want to try to travel to the probate court in the county where the deceased individual lived at the time of the death and see whether his estate has been probate - with or without a will.