What is the name of your state? NY
My "sister" is contesting my grandmother's Will out of spite. My grandmother didn't really have anything in her estate. She had a car worth about $3000 that my sister gave away or sold without authority (shouldn't she have to pay for this?)
There was $30,000 that she told me to keep from this same sister when she moved into gramma's home (I had POA at the time and was responsible for my gramma's health, finances, etc. She knew this sister would steal from her).
Anyway, it's a good thing I had the funds because I've exhausted it paying bills and my gramma's burial expenses, as well as numerous false lawsuits brought on by this same "sister." I have immaculate records for everything. Gramma named me executor because she knew I was honest and reliable. I never asked her for anything. I never needed her hard-earned money.
This spiteful sister has yet again blatantly lied to the courts and said that my grandmother was under duress and not competent when she signed the Will (yet she had her sign TWO Power of Attorney's 6 months AFTER the Will was done!). She said that there were no witnesses, yet her own boyfriend was a witness (plus one other, my gramma's old friend) and a legitimate attorney was present. Why is this even allowed to go to court?
This evil creature also claims I stole $120,000 from my grandmother (she never even had that amount of money in her life!) when SHE was the one living in the house and actually took $30K in cash from gramma. When the Will was being done, she was in Atlantic City gambling away the money.
The only reason I filed the Will with the courts to become executor was so that I could sue her and make her responsible for the money she stole from gramma (she was in a nursing home the last 6 months of her life and my sister was living in her house, collecting/spending the rent money and spending her social security money--I was paying the bills. Plus, she fraudulently used gramma's credit to buy stuff worth over $8000 and never paid. She lied under oath in a guardianship hearing that she was paying for the stuff, that they were a "GIFT" to gramma, but she never paid for them. Now the store is calling me, demanding the money from the estate). There's not enough money in the estate to pay them, but she should be responsible.
Anyway, now I will have to go to court and spend thousands of dollars to defend myself against spiteful lies. This doesn't seem fair. Wacko ex-sister belongs to a union and has been abusing the union lawyer for the past two years to harass me and file frivilous lawsuits.
Is there anything I can do about this? Can I sue her for my expenses? Also, she and her lawyer paid extra to demand a trial by jury (which I think is hilarious, she's just shooting herself in the foot, but it wastes my time and money that should've been divided).
Oh, another twist to this story, my grandmother put her home into a trust for all three of us granddaughters before she died. When she passed away in Sept. 2005, we inherited the house equally. But of course, the spiteful sister refuses to move out of the house and would not allow us to sell. We tried to negotiate to no avail. The ironic thing is that I am the one paying all the bills for the house--taxes, insurance, water bill, etc. while she's renting the place out and making money.
She doesn't even pay rent while me and my other sister have to pay our mortgages and be responsible adults. We considered filing a partition action, but our lawyer suggested an agreement to avoid the time and expense of such litigation (which cost thousands for us anyway and nothing for her).
In the meantime, I have to gear myself up for her contesting the Will. How can I protect myself? Do I have any other recourse? This is very frustrating and makes me disgusted with the legal system.
If we have a trial, can I sue her for punitive damages? She needs to PAY!
Thank you.
Dun
My "sister" is contesting my grandmother's Will out of spite. My grandmother didn't really have anything in her estate. She had a car worth about $3000 that my sister gave away or sold without authority (shouldn't she have to pay for this?)
There was $30,000 that she told me to keep from this same sister when she moved into gramma's home (I had POA at the time and was responsible for my gramma's health, finances, etc. She knew this sister would steal from her).
Anyway, it's a good thing I had the funds because I've exhausted it paying bills and my gramma's burial expenses, as well as numerous false lawsuits brought on by this same "sister." I have immaculate records for everything. Gramma named me executor because she knew I was honest and reliable. I never asked her for anything. I never needed her hard-earned money.
This spiteful sister has yet again blatantly lied to the courts and said that my grandmother was under duress and not competent when she signed the Will (yet she had her sign TWO Power of Attorney's 6 months AFTER the Will was done!). She said that there were no witnesses, yet her own boyfriend was a witness (plus one other, my gramma's old friend) and a legitimate attorney was present. Why is this even allowed to go to court?
This evil creature also claims I stole $120,000 from my grandmother (she never even had that amount of money in her life!) when SHE was the one living in the house and actually took $30K in cash from gramma. When the Will was being done, she was in Atlantic City gambling away the money.
The only reason I filed the Will with the courts to become executor was so that I could sue her and make her responsible for the money she stole from gramma (she was in a nursing home the last 6 months of her life and my sister was living in her house, collecting/spending the rent money and spending her social security money--I was paying the bills. Plus, she fraudulently used gramma's credit to buy stuff worth over $8000 and never paid. She lied under oath in a guardianship hearing that she was paying for the stuff, that they were a "GIFT" to gramma, but she never paid for them. Now the store is calling me, demanding the money from the estate). There's not enough money in the estate to pay them, but she should be responsible.
Anyway, now I will have to go to court and spend thousands of dollars to defend myself against spiteful lies. This doesn't seem fair. Wacko ex-sister belongs to a union and has been abusing the union lawyer for the past two years to harass me and file frivilous lawsuits.
Is there anything I can do about this? Can I sue her for my expenses? Also, she and her lawyer paid extra to demand a trial by jury (which I think is hilarious, she's just shooting herself in the foot, but it wastes my time and money that should've been divided).
Oh, another twist to this story, my grandmother put her home into a trust for all three of us granddaughters before she died. When she passed away in Sept. 2005, we inherited the house equally. But of course, the spiteful sister refuses to move out of the house and would not allow us to sell. We tried to negotiate to no avail. The ironic thing is that I am the one paying all the bills for the house--taxes, insurance, water bill, etc. while she's renting the place out and making money.
She doesn't even pay rent while me and my other sister have to pay our mortgages and be responsible adults. We considered filing a partition action, but our lawyer suggested an agreement to avoid the time and expense of such litigation (which cost thousands for us anyway and nothing for her).
In the meantime, I have to gear myself up for her contesting the Will. How can I protect myself? Do I have any other recourse? This is very frustrating and makes me disgusted with the legal system.
If we have a trial, can I sue her for punitive damages? She needs to PAY!
Thank you.
Dun
Then ask about 3 questions.