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Executor of Dad and Mom's Estate

3

37chief

Well-known Member
Location
California
My Mom made me executor of her estate, upon her death. Mom died several years ago. I am trying to clean up the area. My brother has 7 or so pickups, he says he is going to fix up and sell. He never will. Brother is 68, and not in real good health. I have power to make decisions on Mom, and Dad's stuff, but can I do anything about my brother's junk on the estate? Has anyone here ever had to deal with something like this? Stan
 
My opinion is you have control of the property as long as it is still an estate, not handed out.

As such you can charge rent for the space the vehicles are occupying.

So and so many days to get them off. You probably can't go backwards, but starting now... Could still take time to get it done.

Often times lots of hard feelings during an estate, even after many years. I suspect this doesn't have much to do with the vehicles, but that's not important to your question.

There probably are details, such as who gets the property, and who the vehicles belong to actually, and so forth that would make it clearer.

Paul
 
Are you going to sell the property? This would be a touchy subject with anyone.
If you're going to sell the place, there is no question... get him to take his stuff off.

On the other hand, if his idea of 'treasures' differs from yours, and you have some of yours on the place... it's a matter of opinion.
good luck
Kenny
 
If you're going to sell the property, you have to get those vehicles moved. Check what the laws are regarding abandoned vehicles in your state. Here in Michigan they changed the law a few years back so that if you have an abandoned vehicle on your property all you have to do is call a towing company. The towing company is required to pick up the vehicle. The owner has 20 days to pay the towing/storage charges or else they lose title to it.
 
Kind of a touchy area.
First thing that comes to mind--You and your brother must not get along!
Second do you have everything else (like finances, funeral expenses, stuff in the buildings, etc) taken care of?
Third Have you talked to him about moving the vehicles?
Finally Maybe he is planning to buy you all out?

So maybe you need to talk to him and everyone well ahead of time about what is to be done. While you have the deciding role it helps keep peace to talk to everyone.
 
In Texas a person can add a clause to the will that, in layman's terms, states that the executor/trix of the will has complete authority in disposing of the estate. If they get any flap from any of the named individuals cited in the will that person can be disbarred from the proceedings. This doesn't change any verbiage that Joe gets this and Susie gets that which they still do. Just the little things and any flaps about well you got more than I did. Or daddy promised me his xxx tractor sort of thing (but the will didn't stipulate that).

I just had my will updated after my wife died. I added the clause. I made my daughter executrix and the two boys will have to deal with her. Course she is working on her doctorate and has a BS in Accounting, with a level head to go with it, and that helped me make up my mind.

HTH,
Mark
 
You ask "Has anyone here ever had to deal with something like this? Stan"

I sure do get involved in it when I'm the attorney for the estate and/or Personal Representatives/Executors which I am quite often as part of my semi retired law practice.

There are statutes (state specific) regarding times in which probate action must be filed and/or a will probated. Otherwise its as if she passed intestate and heirs or distributes could be entirely different. Any "interested person" can petition to be the Personal Representative/Executor.

This is a fairly technical area of the law and can be state specific, so my best professional advice is to seek help (at least a brief consultation) from a local trained professional Estate and Probate Attorney and dont hang your hat too much on what Billy Bob or Bubba have to say, it could end up in a law suit grrrrrrr

Best wishes and Merry Christmas

John T BSEE, JD Country Lawyer
 
Who owns the real estate as in who was it left to?
In my state real estate goes to the heirs it was willed to at the deceased death probate and its then owned by them and isn't really part of the estate of the deceased and all owners have equal rights on the property.If you and your brother both own the property he has as much right to use it as he wants as you do.
 
My wife's will was professionally prepared and simple. She left everything to me. She had no outstanding, outside (of the marriage) interests. Probate took all of about 5 minutes with the attorney present.

My will was professionally prepared and actually, after my wife's death, was rewritten for current conditions. The attorney advised me as to what I said above and that was great as the older son may have attempted to do some whining and cause her some problems.

I have the "estate" consisting of a couple of pieces of property that they will share equally. Financial matters are per beneficiaries and are not effected by the will. On the this and that of my possessions, I did not specify as I thought it best to let them work it out. All 3 have varied interests and it shouldn't be a problem. I have no reason to doubt that my daughter will make sound judgements and decisions on the "piddly" stuff.

Mark
 
Where I live buying land with several junk cars to haul would be a deal clinching selling point.
 
Having recently executed my mom's estate, I will offer my learning experiences. Simply follow the will. Do not read anything into it.

If the property has been willed to heirs, it is no longer part of the estate, and your brother owns property, get him to move his stuff to his property. If the property is owned jointly, then it might be tricky.

If the will demands the property be sold and he is not gonna buy it or a share, have him remove his property.

In our situation, the farm was left to mom's three sons. I bought their shares from each of my brothers, and now I own the farm.

Your state's laws may vary, and consult an attorney if needed for advise as what the will demands. The executor(s) is/are the boss.
 
The very first day we walked into our Probate and Estates course in law school, I will NEVER forget the first thing Professor Fallendar said

"A living person has no heirs"

The she went on to describe how ONLY the states varying laws of intestate succession determine the heirs of the decedent and their respective shares.

And I never forgot that either, gee I kinda miss those days lol

Best Wishes n Merry Christmas, Im workin up the nerve to out in the coldddddddd and tackle that Dodge V6 problem I reported on last night grrrrrrrrrrr brrrrrrrrrrrrr

John T
 
Just get it hauled to his place, do not worry about getting paid for the hauling, just do it as a favor.
 
Leaving a piece of real estate to 3 children is a legal problem from the start. There is no way for them to divide it, unless they all agree, which rarely happens. Divide the property yourself and give each child a deed to their portion which will come at your death.

I have witnessed this time after time and the lawyers end up with the majority of what the childrens parents worked for.
 
My grandmother died on January 1, 2012 at age 100. She had two children, my uncle and my mom. Mom was already living in the house with Grandma, and my uncle lives in another state. The farm was originally 13 acres, but Unk bought 2 acres from grandma a few years back.

The will stipulates that both Mom and Unk were to be co-administrators of the estate. The will specified that Unk and Mom were to share ownership of the remaining part of the farm...with the exception that Mom got the house.

From the get-go, it's been hard for the two of them to get along; having equal ownership of the farm just made that part worse. Mom kept bringing up the "which half is mine?" question for months afterward, until we finally sat her down and told her that, like it or not, she and Unk would have to jointly share the whole farm...and that NEITHER could tell the other what will--or "ought to be" done with the farm. Unk still tries to boss Mom around about the place, and there are a lot of hard feelings between them. Neither has the resources individually to buy the other out, and both are over 80, so financing such a deal would also be "iffy," at best.

But it certainly showed me what NOT to include in my will. Shared ownership creates problems, because people are human.
 
Mom left the half with the house to my brother. He never married and lived at home, with Mom, and Dad. I got the barn half, which is fine with me. His junk is on the half I will get. My brother is a hoarder. The house is full of trash. He can't make decisions. All he pays is utilities, the estate pays taxes, and insurance. He can't pay anymore, as he doesn't have any income except for SS. Along with the vehicles he has around 75 RR ties, piles of wire, hundreds of fence posts, cattle squeeze, portable loading chute, feeders. From his previous cattle operation. He is really a nice guy, but when it comes to getting rid of his stuff he gets very possessive. He tries to sell stuff, but puts such a high price on it no one comes around. I guess we all have our problems. Some times it's just good to talk about things to others. Stay warm out there. Stan
 
Pickup trucks? What pickup trucks?? I thought you called the scrappers, I haven't seen them for a while. You didn't scrap them??? Them danged scrap metal thieves musta got em!!!

Gene
 
8 kids with undivided share of 120 acre farm but mother gets life interest- worked out fairly good as mother had authority to handle things- farm value split 8 ways was under the estate tax threshold at time of will written. Mother dies and one brother wants a split off- OK he can have the house section to live in and stay out of town when getting drunk- rest of farm is rented out and every body gets a check at end of January except the brother living in house, farming his little patch. brother dies and things get a little messy- estate sale, dispose or move other brother stored stuff in sheds mother had given him for farm help and money for utility bills, mother garage car repairs and tune up blls, prepaid gasoline account at local station/shop. Sherrifs deputies passing out subpeonas, restraint orders, eviction notices. house and outbuilding now tore down, renter died- brother in law- so things will get messy again this spring.
 
Wife ended up in a undivided 200 acre piece of land. Brother who had farmed it for years took it upon himself to make all decisions when farming it with no official authority. Kept putting POA on everthing and no one could tell him the POA died with their mother. Everyone was getting old. One had 10 kids. I said we need to settle this situation. They said why. I pushed it. Offered to sell our share for much less than market value. No one even answered attorney's letter. Later, pheasants forever wanted the land. Made a very good offer. Brother who farmed didn't want to sell any land. Told him to take the good 40 acres of land. But no, he wanted to participate in the very good offer on the land. Pheasants forever wanted all but 33 acres. We sold it and now jointly own 33 acres. Brother offered to buy out out share for less than half what we just sold rest for. He did buy one sister and one brother out. He died. Sister died.(one with 10 kids). Moral of the story. Never will undivided interests. Break it down. Deed it out.
 
Should have added there were five kids involved and brother had already purchased 240 acres at half of market value years earlier to compensate him for helping his mom and dad for years and agreed to no further inheritance, (in writing but not notarized). He was my very best friend in the whole world out side of my wife and kids.
 
I wish the metal thieves would come in and take the pickups. All they are good for is scrap. After counting, there are ten of them. The metal I had hauled away a year or so ago was from some of Dad's stuff, and a couple tractors I scrapped, which I posted a while back. Actually my brother had 12 pickups, he did scrap two of them, but kept the running gear, which is on pallets now in the way. Stan
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And in closing, the Moral of the Story is:

Consult an experienced professional estate planning and probate attorney (NOT know it all brother in law or the neighbor or Billy Bob), do it right and legal the first time. Proper estate planning eliminates sooooooooooo much of all the hassle and fights and attorney fees down the line. I just finished a long expensive Quiet Title Action in Court because when Grandma died in 1965 no probate was ever filed and now she's dead and all her children are dead and I ended up with TWELVE OWNERS in shares ranging from 1/4 all the way down to 1/72 lol. Had it been done right 48 years ago (how I do them now) it would have been sooooooooo much easier and at soooooooooooo less cost.

Im happy, I got my 4x4 fixed in case of more snow

Merry CHRISTmas yall and to all a good night

John T
 
Have an attorney send him a 30 day notice to remove the vehicles or they will be scrapped.
Tell him it's nothing personal,but something that needs to be done to clean up the estate and a liability issue.
 
John- I had one where great grandma died in 1936, and everyone had just been moving in when the elders died, no deeds or title searches to slow things up. Now they wanted to sell to an outsider, so needed title cleaned up. I took a long look at the project, and at them (they were a pretty rustic bunch, and acted like the job should be about a hundred bucks), and decided maybe I'd just pass. In light of subsequent developments, a very wise decision on my part.
 
On mine, I knew it was a time consuming job so I just told them there was NO WAY I would do it for a penny less then the Realtor was charging them for the sale once title was settled in the 12 "heirs", and that was 7%. I spent more time and it took a ton more expertise and training then the yuppy sport coat clad realtor lol At the final hearing I warned my people the Judge may require additional probate actions on some of the predecessors in title who either died intestate or testate yet no probate was ever filed, but he said the 12 petitioners had ample time to complain (none filed answers) but no one did and he approved and signed the Order I had sent him WHEWWWWWWWWW FOR ME

I also pass on ones where a family feud is likely to erupt, I tell them go hire a big shot city lawyer and end up paying them $10,000, Im not interested in putting up with it (yet still get same result) for $2,000.

Once had a client go to the Clerks Office and get a basketfull of Forms and Templates and Blanks when their mother died and asked me "how much I would charge to help them fill them out" I looked at that mess of garbage and told them it would be $3,000 to help them fill them out BUT ON THE OTHER HAND JUST LET ME HANDLE IT ALL AND THEY WOULDNT HAVE TO DO ANYTHING AND THE CHARGE WOULD BE $2,000.

John T "Country" Lawyer
 
Thanks sir for your reply. The place is not structured to be split. I think I know how it will go. The youngest boy will take physical possession, regardless of ownership. He will work out something with the other two to "maintain" it until they collectively agree to dispose of it. Daughter will use it as a recluse from the hustle bustle of her day to day responsibilities. She has already made that clear by her comments every time she comes out here.

The oldest boy will probably want to be bought out and the other two can pay for that with other things they will receive. Get an assessment of net worth, divide it by 3, other 2 pay off "3, do a deed change via the county clerk and that's that.

Attorneys in a small town around here are friends and work for very reasonable fees. Like my medical power of atty was $50 and another medical directive was also $50. Will was $500 including filing fees.

Disposition is not my problem. I have seen times and folks change and to do a lot of dictating in a will is not the right answer. Currently I am the member of a family who are the recipients of of some stupid real estate dealings my grandfather was involved in. I can clearly see how a will can hamstring the decendants and I'm just not going to do that. I am giving them free reign and they can decide for themselves. Not going to be a legal schrade. Already indicated why.

Mark
 
Chief, Seems pretty simple. Request that your brother move his belongings to his own property.

Pete, Sounds like a real mess. My FIL along with his dad and brother built a cabin on the river. The property belonged to his brother and maybe dad, but my FIL helped with the labor. FIL was one of around 10 kids. FIL's parents died. Unmarried brother that owned the cabin died shortly after. ALL of the 9 or so remaining siblings knew my FIL's brother wanted the cabin to go to my FIL but there was no will. Some of FIL's sisters agreed and gave "their" share of the cabin to my FIL. A few of his sisters demanded he buy them out. He bought them out. FIL has 8 kids and is in his 90's. The in-laws have a will but last I heard they haven't spelled out who is supposed to get the cabin. I figure 3 of the kids will want the cabin. FIL won't sell it to them now or spell out in his will who will get it. The 3 "kids" that I think will want the cabin have 5 kids. 3 of the grandkids have kids of their own.
It's a BIG problem waiting to happen. It will be even worse when it's the grandkids and great grandkids turn to share/divide ownership.
It would be so much better if my FIL would make some decisions now but he doesn't want to deal with it.
 
My mother left all her property. To my brother. Made him the Executor.According to his lawyer. He has the power to do what he wants with the property. He is also responsible for meeting any city and county regulations. About keeping the property up to code. Which means cleaning it up. I would think you would have the same power. But I would get legal advice for your state.
 
(quoted from post at 16:31:44 12/12/13) Mom left the half with the house to my brother. He never married and lived at home, with Mom, and Dad. I got the barn half, which is fine with me. His junk is on the half I will get. My brother is a hoarder. The house is full of trash. He can't make decisions. All he pays is utilities, the estate pays taxes, and insurance. He can't pay anymore, as he doesn't have any income except for SS. Along with the vehicles he has around 75 RR ties, piles of wire, hundreds of fence posts, cattle squeeze, portable loading chute, feeders. From his previous cattle operation. He is really a nice guy, but when it comes to getting rid of his stuff he gets very possessive. He tries to sell stuff, but puts such a high price on it no one comes around. I guess we all have our problems. Some times it's just good to talk about things to others. Stay warm out there. Stan
Click to expand...
So is the problem that your brother has stored junk on what will be your half of the property? Or is the problem you just don't want your brother to keep junk around?
Either way have him move his stuff to the house side of the property. If the problem is just the location of the junk then the problem is solved. If the real issue is you not wanting him to keep junk around, then that's a totally different issue.
 
It's a real dilemma.

As executor you have the right to clean them up. May be some legal notices required etc that you need to comply with before you can move them.

The Brother factor gets thing real complicated. Good luck with that and maybe you can post back how you handled it.
 
37Chief:

Don't be throwing away those old, worn out Allis M parts. They're like "new" in comparison to the same parts on MY Allis M.

LOL

Doc
 
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