Community Chat

[hyacinth003]

I have posted a couple other times about my father-in-law's estate. He passed away 7 months ago.

He had 4 sons (I'll refer to them as John, Paul, George and Ringo). My husband would be "Paul." John and Ringo were named co-executors, as they lived in the same state as my father-in-law. John was power of attorney prior to his death, but became a co-executor when he passed away. John has shared NOTHING with his co-executor, Ringo.

The estate was split equally between the brothers. There is money in CD's that is to be split among the grandchildren. That has been sorted out.

His house has been rented since he went into an assisted living center. John wanted them to keep the house as rental property. Two other brothers said no and to sell the house. John has refused to list the house, is collecting the rent money, and has kept saying he will borrow money with George to buy the house from them. Six months after being notified to sell, he has still not applied for a loan. None of us have seen any rental money either. John has all his mother's jewelry and has not split that up either. He keeps saying he's too busy to get to all of this. Ringo has offered to help, but John refuses to give him information to help.

Ringo went to an attorney yesterday. The attorney said (as we believed) that John has violated his fiduciary duties and is not acting in the best interest of anyone but himself. He said he has violated the Will and Trust, and is sending him a "cease and desist" letter next week. John has fractured his whole family and we think he is using his dad's estate for himself. We have tried in every way to work this out. The attorney said he should have listed the house for sale immediately, and is wrong to have "conspired" with another brother to delay the sale. We think John perhaps cannot get a loan and would like to delay ending the rental income the way it is.

We probably should have gotten an attorney sooner, but you really try to work things out in a family matter. Now, if John doesn't do what is right for all his brothers, he will have to go to court, as HIS expense, not the estate's.

Hyacinth