Dad’s Secret Estate

Dad’s Secret Estate

Mom died a few years ago and now Dad has died too, a little surprisingly and without any notice.  Your siblings say it is your duty to probate his estate because you are the oldest.  You know he owns a house and has been using the same bank for decades and has invested money with a stock brokerage company and has a good retirement fund.  But he never talked about death and never talked about his assets or estate.

You sign a listing agreement with a real estate agent to sell the house but the agent calls back to say the supervising broker has some questions.  You talk to the bank customer service representative but feel a little miffed because he won’t give you direct answers to your questions about dad’s accounts even though you show him the death certificate.  The stock broker is even less forthcoming.  Your siblings question your ability to properly protect their interests and jokingly (or maybe not so jokingly) threaten to hire an attorney.  To beat them to the punch, you call your local attorney and set an appointment.

You complain to the attorney about the sudden secrecy of your father’s bank and assert that you are very willing to treat all of the kids absolutely equally, even though one of your siblings has married very well and the other had suffered a debilitating medical problem and so has not been able to work for several years.  You report that Dad may have had a Will but you can only hope that it is stored in the bank lock box and the bank isn’t talking to you.

The attorney reports that if there is no will then Nebraska law gives Dad’s estate to the children in equal shares no matter that one child needs more and the other may need less.  But if your father was as thoughtful as his investment acumen indicates, he likely did sign a will.  In any event, no one has power to deal with his substantial estate until the Probate Court issues Letters of Personal Representative.

Without a will then all three children have priority to be appointed Personal Representative (or “PR”).  Dad in his will could nominate one and thereby give that one priority to be appointed PR.  The children can agree that one of them will do the job.

Dad, in his will, could favor one child with a greater share of the estate and could even include testamentary trust clauses providing benefits to the disabled child in such a way that other governmental benefits would not be reduced by the benefits of the estate.

You are confident your father was the kind of person who would have done what he could to protect his children and so you are hopeful that a will can be found at the bank.  The attorney reports that he likely can get a judge to appoint you as Special Administrator and give you enough authority that the bank could help you search for the will and help you identify assets available for probate.  Thereafter, armed with more complete information, you and the attorney could decide which steps would be appropriate and efficient to administer the estate for the benefit of all the children.

You called your siblings that evening and received their well-deserved accolades for dealing with a professional in this once-in-a-lifetime process.

Witte Law Office

6125 Havelock Ave
Lincoln, NE 8507
402-467-5080
glen@wittelawoffice.com