Q: Our executor has taken the insurance claim $$ we need to rebuild after storm. I purchased, paid for, & own the insurance
I need to know if she can legally do this. I bought the policy, paid for it, signed all the paperwork. It took us months to file the claim, and just as the check was issued she had her lawyer call to declare her as “the contact”. This would not have happened as it did if our agent was involved, but he died of COVID and nobody is officially handling our account yet. The executor has only taken money, and sabotaged our family business since ‘taking over’, but has not...no exaggeration here...has not met a single obligation of her appointment. I need to demand my insurance company make this right, but I need to know if the law on our side.
A: I'm sorry to hear about your situation. If you have already demanded the executor repay the money she has inappropriately taken, you can have a lawyer send her another demand letter. But my guess is that you will need to file a Petition in the Probate Court. Once a probate matter has been opened with the court, you can ask a judge to force the executor to: (1) appear in front of the judge and explain what she did with all the money, including providing a written accounting of every penny spent; and (2) repay all the money she has taken that did not belong to her. A judge will not take lightly someone stealing another's money.
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