Narberth, PA asked in Consumer Law, Contracts and Probate for California

Q: Gym owner refuses to refund estate money debited since death

I am administering a small estate but the process to gain papers took longer than expected and since then, the gym of deceased automatically debited their account for close to $1K. Now I have sent a demand letter for return of the refund but the owner has refused to refund to the estate and instead told me he was trying to be nice by asking me to negotiate only giving back a small percentage of the money. Do I have any recourse? At this point it’s not even the amount but the principle of having to deal with a difficult small gym owner.

2 Lawyer Answers
Howard E. Kane
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Answered

A: I'm sorry to hear about the jerk around. As the administrator of the estate, you can file a small claims case to recover the money. That is the only recourse I can think of. Best of luck with this.

1 user found this answer helpful

James L. Arrasmith
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Answered

A: Generally, when a person passes away, their estate is responsible for managing their financial affairs. If the gym owner has debited the deceased's account after their death, it could potentially be considered unauthorized or wrongful. The estate may have a valid claim to seek a refund of the debited amount.

Sending a demand letter was a good first step. If the gym owner refuses to refund the money, you may need to consider taking further legal action. This could involve filing a lawsuit against the gym owner to recover the funds on behalf of the estate.

1 user found this answer helpful

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