I am almost a basket case these last few days. Thought I could come on here and sound off to mycoupon buddies. This is an absolutely true story. I am from a small town where everyone knows everybody. A year ago my mother passed away, and I got this lawyer in town to handle her estate. It was a simple estate with a home sold two months after she passed and that is all that was left. The house was not in good shape and went for 18,000. Every month I would call this lawyer asking how long till she would finish. A few months after that we found out my husband has cancer and he has been having treatments, and I don't have the money to pay all at once to the hospital, so they are letting me pay payments to get it paid off before he starts more treatment in July. Anyhow the last few months I have been calling more often and asking when it will be finished. She kept telling me she needed a couple more weeks all the time as she had other estates that she is working on. This lawyer has bad health too and has a disability, she works a full time job for a judge, and does work at her home on the side. I was trying to be patient as I tried to understand her position. I paid money up front and the rest was supposed to come out the estate. She got all the money from the house, the check went to her, as she said that is how they did it and held it in escrow till everything was settled. I paid all the incoming bills myself and had them paid off within 3 months of her death. I trusted her, as she said she would take care of everything. I thought you had a year to pay the inheritance taxes and I called the bureau to see if she paid, as she is now not answering my phone calls. Here it was 9 months and they sent her a delinquent notice 3 months ago and she never paid anything, nor ask for an extention. They told me that they are now tacking on 5% a day penalty for each day it wasn't paid, starting the 3 months ago. I contacted another lawyer, who only would suggest that I contact the disciplinary board. He said if she spent the money, it won't get it back, but would put a mark on her reputation. This is unreal. About a month after I was visiting a friend in another town down the road, I told her I got a lawyer to handle my mom's estate. She told me about a friend she had that had some lady lawyer handle her relative's estate and the lawyer took the money and she couldn't do anything about it. She said that she called a bunch of other lawyers and no one would take the case against another lawyer. She just gave up because they told her till she would fight it she would be paying out of pocket and go in the hole , so she didn't persue. This friend of mine would not give me her name for me to ask this lady, as it was said in privacy. At the time I thought it couldn't be this lady as she was too nice and worked for a judge in the court house. Now I am wondering if it is her. I feel like a fool! I was patiently waiting for this money to pay more doctor bills down the line, and we haven't had a vacation in many years and were planning maybe to go away somewhere for a couple of days. It sounds like I will not be able to get anywhere with this either as I don't know where to turn. I am almost to the point of shock that she would do this to me, and maybe she did it to others. If you would know her, you would hardly believe it either. Thanks so much for listening to me vent! If I didn't, I would be crying non-stop!

You should never have paid anything when there were assets (house for instance) The proceeds from any assets should have been made "to the estate of ________" and placed in a specific account, not made out to the lawyer.

You need to have filed for reimursement for EVERYTHING you paid, funeral expenses, etc. if you havent' already.

Did she even file in probate? While it isn't out of line to take approximately a year after death to settle an estate, there are time lines and documentation that must be followed. Imagine the legal system in which lawyers won't go after one another and sort of police their own! I knew as I read, you were going to state something to that effect.

In your state, start to find out how to file a complaint with the bar, see if you can consider filing with the state attorney's office or maybe even the police department for theft. You are going to have to be pro-active now on your own behalf and forget your shock over what is / was happening to you.

SO sorry you are dealing with "Dewy, Cheatum and Howe"........

Contact the state bar immediately! It's probably in Harrisburg. There may be a fund to compensate victims of malpractice. In addition, someone from the bar might be able to advise you on ways to delay or avoid those penalty taxes, point you to the proper government office to help, or at least recommend someone who can help you. Good luck to you -- I hope it works out.

Thanks! I have a paper ready to mail today for this dis board, as they said you have to go through them first, but they said they can not help get the money back, just check into it and maybe give her a scolding or disbar her. She has no other claims against her. If she did this to anyone else, they never filed. I am contacting the tax bureau today again to see what my next step should be there, as I don't even know what I am supposed to pay. I gave copies of all the funeral bills,etc. to the lawyer. I have copies here that I can show them though. The office I have to go through first is called the disciplinary board of the supreme court of PA. Yes, she filed probate, as I had to meet her at the court house and had to pay $165 right there to have it done as I had to sign papers. I had called the attorney generals office and they had told me I had to go to the above place. I guess it is a start. I wonder if I can find an attorney to take it whether they will dip out of my money or make her pay, as if they make me pay there definitely won't be anything left. But it will be the principal of the thing that she won't be able to do it to anyone else. It can't be either that she didn't have the money to pay, as she sold one of her houses for several times more than what my mom's went for. It just is mind boggling right now!

Run to the probate court as fast as you can. The probate judge is the one who can help you. If she filed probate, then she or someone (who is the executor?) has a legal obligation to handle things correctly. She or the executor MUST report back to the probate court when this is completed. If things are not handled in accordance with the will and/or law, the probate judge can find her in contempt of the court. Contact the probate where you filed today!

I suggest writing a letter to the judge she works for. Especially since she's not returning your calls now. Just keep it factual, add that you are concernced and looking for help. That should get some sort of movement going from her, at least some communication. I'm sorry you are going through this.

What county was this in? We had some very bad experiences w/a female lawyer in PA and am curious to see if it's the same one.
MZ

Sounds like a good idea

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My recommendation, too, would be to contact the Judge she works for and lay out all the facts and ask if she (the Judge) is aware of any other such problems or if she could be of any help to you. Good Luck!

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The op stated that the attorney works full time for this judge, and is doing this "work" on the side. imo, it is none of the judge's business what the attorney does on the side and could perhaps be a breach on the op's part to do this. While I know she needs to turn somewhere, I don't think it's the op's judge as employer when the judge has nothing to do with side work.

That is perhaps part of the problem too, if the attorney is working full time, that would leave little time to devote to handling the op's estate situation.

I am hopeful the op finds a viable avenue to get relief.

This is being settled as we speak. I did try to contact the judge, but as the person above said they told me they would not get involved in outside work. Some of this probably was my fault as I never went through any of this before and didn't know what to do or ask, but some should be hers as I think she should have sat me down and explained how it went. She told me the money from house was being held in escrow till all bills were paid, inheritance tax, etc. She said she would take her fee out of that and give me the rest - the taxes too. She did the closing for house as I could not be there due to a doctor visit we couldn't cancel and they didn't want to do it at another time as it was hard to get everyone together. I was never sent a copy of this, I thought it was held till the end. She never told me what lawyer to go to to get it, and she also let the taxes go 3+ months past delinquent. I assumed she had the money. She says she either was too busy and also forgot. I am supposed to go sign the papers this weekend and then get my money from the other lawyer, I guess this week.
I don't know if me calling her job did the trick or she just got back from finally answering me, but a little over 1 hour after I called, I got an email from her. It is too bad that it had to go that way, but I really have to get my husband's hospital bill paid off before June before he goes in for his next cancer treatment and I had explained this. It went a year. Thanks for all the answers, as it really helped!

Thanks for the update. Seems like everything is moving forward for you. I didn't think the judge would get involved but lets face it, it got her moving when nothing else would. Hopefully it embarrassed her enough that she won't do it to anyone else!

print out and save every email and correspondence. I recently settled my mother's estate and something still does not sound right. Who is the executor of the estate? They are the ones who can and should have the money and be paying bills. They have the legal authorization to do that. The executor can not give any money to the heirs until the estate is closed.

Not sure what you mean by executor unless that would be me. I paid all the bills that were due and had everything paid within 3 months of her passing. I am the only child and was the only one listed on the will. Then I had the lawyer. I signed the papers on Sunday, but the lawyer didn't even know how much exactly that I was getting from the sale of the home. She told me who the other guys lawyer was, and told me if I didn't have the check in a week or two, then let her know. I called this other lawyer and ask them if, when they mailed the check, that they could include a paper from the sale of the home, breaking it all down, as I didn't get anything from before. OK, they mailed me the check. The check was made out to the estate and didn't have my name on it. I went to the bank to deposit it and they wouldn't take it. They said it should have been in a separate estate account or needed my name on it. So the story goes on. You know that when you have cancer, that it takes alot more money for doctor's, tests, etc. So since I had been after her for months to get this finished with no satisfaction. I would have taken it to another lawyer, but then would have had to pay twice. So In Oct. when it still wasn't done, I ask her, since there wasn't that much in my mom's/& my checking account whether I could close that to at least get two bills paid. She told me yes, and evidently if I would have kept that account, there would have been no problem. She should have told me not to, if she knew they did it like this. Now I had to call the other lawyer back, but had to talk to an answering machine. That is how it stands. I never went through anything like this before, and hope I never have to go through it again!

when someone passes, the person that is named in the will as the person to handle the affairs is the executor. When the will is taken to probate court, the judge signs a legal paper saying the executor has the legal right to handle all the affairs for the deceased. Cashing checks, paying bills, opening and closing checking accts, paying taxes, selling property. When the executor pays all the debts and bills and pays all the taxes, the remaining cash is given to whoever is named in the will to receive it. The executor can also charge the estate a reasonable amount for their work. Then the executor presents to the judge that everything is taken care of under the terms of the will, the judge checks it and declares the estate closed. The executor should of opened an account with the deceased name on it, and the executors name on it. The bank would then allow the check to be deposited into that account. You really need to either get another lawyer or take the time and go to your local probate court and find a clerk to assist you. They will help you. You really could end up with nothing if you do not get a handle on this.

Also, if the check from the house sale was to the estate, you may not cash it or deposit it and spend it on your personal bills at this time. The estate must give it to you as rightful heir, then you can spend it. You can not spend estate monies on anything but estate things. You really need to get some help. If you spend that money and there are still taxes etc to pay, you could be in very serious trouble.

Thanks for all the info. I promise if anything like this ever happens again, that I will not get this lawyer. Everything was paid off, except the inheritance tax which I had been after her to get finished, which was delinquent by over the 3 months. That was supposed to be paid Monday. I was the sole name in the will to be the executor, and the only child. If I wouldn't have closed the account, then everything would have been ok. She should have told me that, but left me close it last October. I will get this cleared up sooner or later. I don't think I will ever be executor of another will, but this has taught me to be more informative and demand to know what I should do and what will happen from beginning to end. I just trusted her and went through her for everything that I didn't understand, but then I didn't think she would be delinquent in finishing the estate and paying the taxes.

The inheritance tax can not be deliquent at this point. You are the one who is inhereting and you are the one who has to pay the inheritance tax, not the estate. The inheritance will be figured into your next year tax return, and after added to your income, less your deductions etc etc, that is the income tax you pay. Your inheritance is YOUR income. Please, get someone else to look at all this.