Need answer to legal question!

08/04/2003 | Trust but Verify

[Trust but Verify]

I have what I beleive to be a simple question for our wonderful legal eagles in FReeperland.

Over a year ago my husband's grandmother passed away and left her home to my husband. He knew he would be getting the house,(she used a quit-claim as the vehicle to transfer the house to him) but wasn't aware of any will or the distribution of the rest of her assets. Finally, after a year of evasion, his aunt produced a will. There was one major surprise: My husband is named in the will as the executor. This is the first he knew of it and his aunts who both had copies of this will never told him. His aunt who had general power of attorney said it was within her power as such designee to disburse the assets, which she has done, with the exception of the house.. It has always been my understanding that power-of-attorney ends with the death of the person, and that the will, if any, is then invoked. Am I correct?

[Trust but Verify]

Thanks for the information. The plot thickens! We do have the actual document and it is a General POA but the one thing it does not state is that it is only in force until death.

Good luck in your 'recovery'!

[RLK]

Forgive they typing errors.

[Trust but Verify]

We are consulting an attorney in Michigan tomorrow. Thanks for all your help.

[HighWheeler]

I have heard that happens quite often when an uniformed, control-freak type person is given POA.

They take full advantage of the situation, and think that the person's will is just a refrigerator-note reminder, and don't realize it is a full blown legal document.

These can be sorted out without an attorney as in the case of a friend's family, or with an attorney in the case of a neighbor's family. The second is quite messy, and is usually required when the POA person is a bull-headed obnoxious jerk.

[HighWheeler]

HEY!! I was just about to defer to YOU!

Either way trustbutverify, see an attorney using those $25 introductory half hour reviews. They are a great way to get started.

[Trust but Verify]

She's also a bed-wetting liberal. She's repulsive. She is a Bush-hater. Yrars ago when they wanted to put ELF (extreme low frequency to transmit to subs)transmitters in northern Wisconsin, she was one of the looney-lefties who protested. She is horrified that we would allow, let alone encourage our son to join the Army with a 'warmonger' like Bush as President.

Oh yeah, she's a piece of work. I wouldn't be shocked if she was one of our friends over at DU

[William Terrell]

The refusal by a servant to deliver the goods entrusted to him by his master is not evidence of a conversion by his master.

Just as an aside and an interesting piece of information. The common law terms "master" and "servant" are now "employer" and "employee" respectively. This was done, according to the courts, because people would not respond favorably to the terms "master" and "servant".

[HighWheeler]

She would flip if she was served papers to appear in court on several charges, wouldn't she?

Most every liberal I've ever met is a control freak wanting to take control of everyone else's affairs. Yet, they are the least interested in taking care of their own responsibilities or even finding out what their responsibilities are.

Good luck with this piece of work. Let us know how things go with this, it will be informative to all us FReepers.

[The Mike Device]

Sure, she's worried that ELF transmissions might hurt some whale's "Wittle Ears". Meanwhile, she's looting all of her dead mother's stuff. Liberals, they slay me.

[ConservativeLawyer]

I'm not a Michigan attorney, but I suspect the POA did not survive the death of the principal.

His aunts may have additional problems because in some states concealing a will of a decendent with intent to thwart its probate is a crime. Definitely get a Michigan attorney and Good Luck!

[Trust but Verify]

You've got her nailed. Oh, and she's on permanent disability for carpal tunnel syndrome.

[Trust but Verify]

She definitley concealed the will. We're not gong to try and charge her with a crime, unless she continues to obstruct. It's great leverage.

[William Terrell]

It may be important to recovery if the auntie distributed anything before your grandmother-in-law passed away. The POA will have been in force until then.

[Trust but Verify]

I don't think that is the case, but we won't know until we get copies of bank statements, etc. I would think the banks would have to cooperate with us given our legal standing vs. Auntie Dearest.

[D. Miles]

Two good places to start in Michigan Code Annitated, probate law, Lexis Law.com and doing a search for a probate lawyer thru the Michigan Bar Assoc.

[William Terrell]

The banks and anybody else will cooperate. From what I understand having been the executor of my late mother's estate, within the law, the executor (or executrix) is god when it comes to the estate.

Mos liberals, like aunt here, need a terrible spanking, so that the pain may draw excess blood away from the brain and allow them to return their focus on reality. The spanking can be physical or legal. The latter is worse.

[DB]

As executor you not only have the legal right to those documents, you have the legal obligation to follow through with her lawful will instructions regardless of what the Aunt did.

[Behind Liberal Lines]

In New York, at least, the POA ends at the time of the decedent's death. Assuming the POA allowed it, the Aunt would have had the power to dispose of assets during the grandmother's life, but not afterwards. If she disposed of assets after the grandmother's death, your husband may be able to lodge civil or criminal charges against her for illegally disposing of estate assets.

[Old Professer]

In California, it was all but impossible for me to probate my mother's will simply because it wasn't written in the proper form; if you have a copy of the will that shows your husband as executor and there is no probate on file then there will likely be problems in going through probate other than just making a redistribution; the worst thing, though is that you will have to live with these aunts from now on and you will need to decide what sort of relationship you want.

Family feuds are the worst sort of things as everyone feels wronged.

[ConservativeLawyer]

We're not gong to try and charge her with a crime, unless she continues to obstruct. It's great leverage.

Be very careful with that leverage. Threatening criminal prosecution unless someone cooperates in a civil matter (such as a probate) can be considered extortion.