Say, for example, that Kevin and Rosa’s parents passed away after a lifetime of hard work, so Kevin believes there should be a fairly large estate. However, Rosa has taken on the role of executor, so she’s in charge of managing the estate’s assets and guiding it through probate.
Mom has been dead for a while, so it’s just Dad’s assets. But Rosa claims he had nothing but a small checking account, no other property, and no will. Kevin doesn’t believe Rosa, though, and he wants to know exactly what his dad owned and how it will be split between him, Rosa, and their other three siblings.
Fortunately, experts say Kevin has rights, and if assets are missing, Rosa can’t keep them hidden forever.
The court can make Rosa provide the info
The good news for Kevin is that formal processes exist to help prevent executors from hoarding assets and keeping all the money and property for themselves.
“If an estate is opened and you are a beneficiary, you may have rights to information concerning the estate or trust assets,” Patrick Simasko, an elder law attorney and partner at Simasko Law, told Moneywise.
However, you’ll likely need to take legal action to exercise those rights. “If your sister is managing your dad’s estate and you believe she isn’t disclosing all of the assets, you may need to involve the court,” Sarah Ocampo, co-founding partner of Ocampo Wiseman Law and probate attorney, told Moneywise.
The exact process for forcing the disclosure will depend on whether Dad had a trust, a will, or no estate plan at all. “If probate has already been opened, you can ask the probate court to require an accounting and disclosure of the estate’s assets. Most states also require the personal representative to file an inventory of the estate’s assets within a certain period after probate opens,” said Ocampo.
Rosa cannot lie or divert assets here, or she could face serious legal trouble. “If she has been appointed as the personal representative or executor of a probate estate, she generally has a fiduciary duty to gather, value, and account for estate assets,” Tiffany O’Connell, founder and elder law attorney at O’Connell Law, told Moneywise.
A fiduciary duty is the highest duty owed under the law, and it means she can’t put her own interests first. She must do what is best for the estate and all the heirs.
Consult outside resources to make sure you’re not missing anything
While Rosa is legally required to provide information about estate assets, that doesn’t always guarantee she’ll be truthful, even if lying could cause her to be sued and even face criminal charges. Fortunately, there are ways Kevin can research assets himself to try to confirm exactly what his dad owned.
