Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Georgia

I asked the question concerning the placing of money into a CD without the knowledge of the other beneficiary. My Older Brother took my father to an attorney and had the will changed making my older brother the sole executor of the estate instead of the 3 brothers being co-executors. After my Father died my older brother, executor of the estate, took money from my fathers bank account, took the money out of state and placed it into a 1 year CD. (My father had altzhimiers) After my father died the executyor of the estate changed the locks on the house and will not let myself or my other brother in the house without the executor being there but he will not let us know when he travels to the house. Now he is refusing to settle the estate claiming he hasn't decided whether he is buying the house or not. The will stated the estate must be settled 6 months after the will was probated. That was 7 or 8 months ago. My brother and I do not know what do!


Asked on 11/18/11, 11:02 am

2 Answers from Attorneys

Glen Ashman Ashman Law Office also dba Glen Ashman Attorney

Either you continue to sit there and do nothing as you have been doing (and continue to wonder why things aren't being done) or you do what you should have done months ago and hire a lawyer to represent your interests.

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Answered on 11/18/11, 5:23 pm

I cannot take issue with having your father name only one executor for his state. Having 3 siblings as co-executors is a recipe for a disaster in the making. Unless the co-executors can agree all of the time on everything, this is a BAD idea.

Just because the will indicated that the estate must be settled within 6 months does not mean anything. And if it is not? What then? Are then any incentives in the will to make it happen or negative consequences? If neither of these is present, then this is a useless requirement other than to express a wish or desire of the testator.

Once your brother was appointed executor (by probating the will and applying for letters testamentary), he could take money out of your father's bank account and put it into an estate bank account. Putting it in a cd is a little odd, but I don't know all of the circumstances.

What you need to do is STOP posting here and you and your other non-executor siblings need to pay a probate attorney to review the will and what has been done to date. You say your father had Alzheimer's. I don't know if he had it when he made the will to such a degree as to render him incompetent or not. You need to discuss with the probate attorney filing a caveat. If the will has not been probated, then you need to get probate commenced. If the executor has acted improperly, then he needs to be removed. All of this will require an attorney as it implicates court action. This is not something that you should be doing on your own.

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Answered on 11/18/11, 7:47 pm


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