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One heir won't sign

  • Thread starter Thread starter diana472
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diana472

Guest
What is the name of your state? Illinois

Four heirs are to equally divide an estate valued at approximately $550,000. Probate is set to be closed and one heir retained his own attorney because of questions that weren't being answered to his satisfaction concerning the final accounting.

Questions were then answered to his satisfaction, minor errors were corrected and he signed the document stating he approved of the accounting. Two other heirs (neither had any problems - one was the executor and the other never retained his own cousel) also signed the final documents.

The fourth heir (who hasn't retained his own attorney) refuses to sign off. He says the attorney fees are too high and won't sign. (Attorneys fees were in the area of $4300 which the other heirs agreed were quite reasonable.)

The "problem" heir won't retain his own attorney, won't communicate with the estate's attorney, and won't file appropriate documents with the probate court to question the final accounting himself.

Will probate now be in limbo forever or can the estate petition the court (or whatever the correct legal term is) for approval on closing the estate and distributing the funds without the "problem" heirs approval?
 


dmode101

Member
What you can do is give the heir the proper notice and petition the court to have his share distributed to the country treasurer. If the heir does nothing, the court should enter the order. The heir can then go ahead and collect it when he sees fit.
 

Jeff247

Junior Member
Nice job on the fee!!!

In New York State an attorney is entitled to "an executors fee". The state has a percentage table set up for executors. For a $1 million estate it's about $40,000. $4300 sounds incredibly cheap!!! Nice job!!!
 

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