Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Tennessee

Executor of will has kept estate

My sister.in.law was left approx. $400K in her father's will. The man had previously had an accident and received a settlement. He lived in TN, SIL lives in TX. The father was cared for by his sister for many yrs. and made her executor of his will. It has been approx. 5 yrs since the father's death. My SIL has received perhaps $150K over the years, but never any documentation or the full funds. Now the executor is no longer returning phone calls. My SIL is fairly uneducated and feels intimidated I am sure. She has called a couple of attorneys, but they state she needs to pay $20K retainer, which she in no way has. Thank you for this service. I appreciate it tremendously as I need to help her and have no experience or idea how to help. I'll look forward to your email


Asked on 2/07/08, 11:39 pm

3 Answers from Attorneys
Phillip Lemmons, Esq. Phillip Lemmons APC, Attorneys at Law

Re: Executor of will has kept estate

You need to contact a lawyer in Texas.

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Answered on 2/08/08, 12:27 am
Scott Linden Scott H. Linden, Esq.

Re: Executor of will has kept estate

I think you are contacting attorneys in the wrong state. Sounds like you need a Probate attorney in TN. We're in Pasadena, Ca...otherwise, I'd love to assist you. It sounds like you need the help and compassion we specialize in.

If you'd like to contact me directly, I can try to assist you at locating local counsel for this.

I can be reached at the contact info provided by LawGuru and through my firm's site No-Probate.com.

Regards,

Scott

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Answered on 2/08/08, 1:19 am
Mitchell Roth MW Roth, Professional Law Corporation

Re: Executor of will has kept estate

You SIL can go to the court house and pull the file and find out what has been done. If she has problems with what has been done, she can appear in the action and take action against the executor. From what you say, I don't imagine that she will do that. Or she can hire an attorney to protect her interests. But, attorneys don't work for free. It seems the retainer is the issue. You can ask her to get an attorney to pull the file, review it and determine with your SIL what the status is, the likelihood of being able to recover more for your SIL and on that basis make further decisions. That can be done without the attorney appearing in the probate as your sister's lawyer and I'm sure she can find a lawyer willing to do that for $1,000 or so. Based upon what he finds, decisions can then be made further.

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Answered on 2/08/08, 2:08 pm


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