Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Mississippi

Re: Uncle's Will and Executor

You have to hire an attorney in Mississippi to represent your interests. You can thank you uncle for the inheritance, but wish that he had used a living trust package rather than a will, and two years of probate could well have been avoided.

You may want to get an education on these matters for your own planning purposes. I suggest you read my book on the subject.

It is coming out on the 15th of this month, "Create Your Legacy & Save the American Middle Class, How You Can Protect Your Loved Ones in the Event of Death or Disability (Without Paying a Legal Fees}"

You will be able to order the book on-line at Amazon.com, but, it is better to order at www.IWant2CreateMyLegacy.com. If you order there, you will get a free special report entitled "The Seven (7) Most Common Mistakes Made by the Middle Class in Planning For the Inevitability of Death and the Likelihood of Disability, and How to Avoid Them." This report alone could save you and your family hundreds of times the cost of the book.

The book is, to my knowledge, the only one written for regular people in the middle class, and it contains in an appendix the Legacy Living Trust Package, which to my knowledge is the only complete fill-in the blanks trust package written in simple English (no Legalese) that will be valid in every State in the US.

Re: Uncle's Will and Executor

Mr. Roth is correct that you probably will have to hire a Mississippi attorney whose office is near the court where the probate is being handled [so as to cut down on charges fro travel time and to have someone familiar with the probate judge and how to best handle the judge].

First, however, I would write a letter to the administrator of the estate in which you try to heal the rift by being very diplomatic and saying that you did not intend to offend him but you do not understand why he has changed his position and could he explain it in writing so that it is clear to your mother and you. Point out that there appears to be no reason not to distribute the proceeds of the sale of the art work; if there was, then the art works probably did not have to be sold [especially if your mother is the only heir and there are enough cash assets to pay the costs of probate]. If he has not filed an accounting request that he either send you one or submit one to the Court with a copy to your mother. Point out that it is to no one's advantage to hold off on the distribution of those funds and that you would not object if he requests the Court to both allow for the distribution and payment to him of part of his statutory administrator fees.

Go on line to the Mississippi court system and look to see if you can access the entire probate file; if so, read through it carefully to see that the administrator has acted correctly as to all Court orders and why it has taken so long to resolve the probate [the file may not show that]. Make copies of what appears to be relevant so that you can send that on to the attorney you retain. If you can not get anything on line, contact a professional copying service in Mississippi and see how much they would charge to make copies of the file, or call the Court directly and see if you can order a copy.

Once you have looked at the file, look at some legal books [Nolo Press has books written in lay person's language and are available at many public libraries] and/or Mr. Roth's book to get some knowledge as to what should and could be done in this matter. It will cost you less when you hire an attorney if you know something about the law so that you use less time of that attorney, as you will be billed by the hour.

If you feel that you can not understand this on your own, perhaps see if you can hire a less expensive local attorney who will review the file, talk to you, and then write a letter to the administrator.

Good luck.