Q: My sister is controlling money received from my deceased mother's estate and I do not have access to the information.
In November 2016 my mother passed. She made my sister and I the beneficiaries. I go to college outside of state and ever since I have been away she refuses to inform me about what is going on with the estate. Instead she has used the checks we were given to pay off some bills and hoard the rest for herself along with making personal purchases. We made a joint account in order to pay off bills, but she has been controlling it. This includes taking checks sent to my home address that I cannot reach and cashing them at banks then withdrawing all the money into her personal account. I know I need to get a lawyer but I do not know what kind or even the steps to take. I called the register of wills and they told me that an estate was never opened for my mother. I do not know what to do.
A:
It isn't clear whether the post means the parent named beneficiaries in a will, in a trust or simply put the children on title to assets. The first thing to do would be to find out whether the assets are being administered through a trust, through probate or whether they just automatically passed by title.
Probate / Estate - everything going through probate must go through the courts. The law requires that the Personal Representative inform the interested persons of the property they are managing, the expenses and so forth.
Trust -- everything in the name of a trust will be handled by the Trustee. Ordinarily there is no court involvement with a trust but the beneficiary should have the ability to ask for a copy of the Trust document and to get an accounting showing what is happening with Trust assets.
Inherited by Title -- ordinarily property inherited by title passes automatically and once the decedent dies, the new owners can do what they wish with the property without accounting to anyone else.
I encourage you to seek legal advice from someone who can look at the documentation and answer some of your questions. While I hope the general information in this answer helps it is not designed to address a specific situation.
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