In need of an estate attorneys advice and possibly more. (1 Viewer)

ktulu909

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As the title states, I need the advice of an estate/succession attorney asap. If anyone here is in that field or can recommend it would be much appreciated.
 
I wish you well ktulu... and sorry that you are troubled... You are not alone... I have a very heavy heart tonight myself... For I do not know what tomorrow will bring...
 
Mom died, no will written, but verbally specified over the years is the short version,now almost 2 years after moms death, sister is making outlandish demands about the property demanding 1k a month from my family, which I've lived in almost exclusively and invested 10s of thousands since even before Katrina (original hammernnails project here on the site). I need to know if her threats are valid or If I can tell her to go eff herself. Many more details, but hey, it's late, and I'm on my phone. And actual call would take less than 10 minutes to sun up details.
 
Definitely call a lawyer for a free consultation. Maybe somewhere here knows someone.

So, after your mom's passing, nothing went to Probate court? Or did that process complete? If so, what was the judgement? If that's clear, then you just follow that.
 
not ready to lawyer up but I do want to educate myself here.



As some picked up on in another thread my Dad passed last night. It was a long hard fight with the Big C. In the midst of his battle, My step mother refused to be his caregiver during his last resort (stem cell transplant has to have someone designated) It was the last straw so after the transplant he began divorce discussions and they agreed to the legal splits on most items.

Here is the tricky part. Though dad was a divorce attorney himself, he didn’t have a will in place. Toward the end, we would ask him about his wishes but we could see that it distressed him so we never pushed. What he told us about La law is that without a will, his property flows to the children. But he also told us that if she decides to stay in the house that constituting what is half is the tricky part.

Things are extremely volatile with my step mother because at the end, whenever he would get out of the hospital, he would go home and get sick again. He would become unresponsive to texts and she would refuse to help us get him medical attention, including refusing to help his doctors get in touch with him even though she was in the same house with him. Ill stop short of saying exactly what I think she was trying to do but his doctors advised that it was elder abuse. And she refused to let anyone come to the house, even explicitly telling me and my sibling we were not welcome at the house. I’m not pursuing criminal at this time; we count our blessings that he got himself to the hospital that last time. I say all that just to show that this isn’t a pretty relationship.

Dad had a lot of stuff that was sentimental for us. He was an antique collector since we were children. I’m not so much interested in trying to get his things right now because I don’t want to get that emotionally invested in a fight. I am, however, very interested in what we can do as far as documenting what is in the house. I have a mental image of her just selling all that stuff off and us not knowing.

I wanted a trusted place to learn about our options as far as Louisiana law is concerned. Like is there a way to get the home inventoried.
 
not ready to lawyer up but I do want to educate myself here.



As some picked up on in another thread my Dad passed last night. It was a long hard fight with the Big C. In the midst of his battle, My step mother refused to be his caregiver during his last resort (stem cell transplant has to have someone designated) It was the last straw so after the transplant he began divorce discussions and they agreed to the legal splits on most items.

Here is the tricky part. Though dad was a divorce attorney himself, he didn’t have a will in place. Toward the end, we would ask him about his wishes but we could see that it distressed him so we never pushed. What he told us about La law is that without a will, his property flows to the children. But he also told us that if she decides to stay in the house that constituting what is half is the tricky part.

Things are extremely volatile with my step mother because at the end, whenever he would get out of the hospital, he would go home and get sick again. He would become unresponsive to texts and she would refuse to help us get him medical attention, including refusing to help his doctors get in touch with him even though she was in the same house with him. Ill stop short of saying exactly what I think she was trying to do but his doctors advised that it was elder abuse. And she refused to let anyone come to the house, even explicitly telling me and my sibling we were not welcome at the house. I’m not pursuing criminal at this time; we count our blessings that he got himself to the hospital that last time. I say all that just to show that this isn’t a pretty relationship.

Dad had a lot of stuff that was sentimental for us. He was an antique collector since we were children. I’m not so much interested in trying to get his things right now because I don’t want to get that emotionally invested in a fight. I am, however, very interested in what we can do as far as documenting what is in the house. I have a mental image of her just selling all that stuff off and us not knowing.

I wanted a trusted place to learn about our options as far as Louisiana law is concerned. Like is there a way to get the home inventoried.

First, so sorry to hear of your father's passing Zack. Cancer sucks.

Caveat that I'm not a successions attorney (the term for estate attorneys in LA). But I think that you can expect a rather drawn-out process that's going to be a headache, at minimum. Also, I think it's trickier than simply "the estate flows to the children." The spouse has certain presumptive and legal rights under LA law for intestate estates.

Getting quality legal advice on the matter is important, I encourage you and your family to make all effort to engage an attorney that does "intestate" successions (estate resolution without a will). You're going to have to open case in court and the process (as I understand it) can be very challenging if you don't have professional assistance.

As to the inventory question, I actually think that's pretty easy. I'm pretty sure that you can't just "get the home inventoried" for official/legal purposes until the court has appointed/approved an administrator. So all the more reason to get that process moving. But for informal, family-clerical purposes, I don't know of any reason why you can't or shouldn't begin an inventory. Make a log with descriptions and serial numbers. Use video if you want. Begin pulling ownership paperwork for assets that have it (cars/boats, stocks, funds, etc.).

No, it's not going to be "official" but it might be helpful when the court-approved process actually begins. But again, I really don't know and it's essential to engage counsel.
 
Thank you Chuck. Ugh, yea I figured it was going to be tough. I guess we will go ahead and get an attorney. I am very guarded against my own emotional investment in the process because I have seen that stuff eat people alive.

Our biggest hurdle is that all of the stuff is in the house where we are no longer welcome. Much of it is old valuable furniture stored in a monster attic. Had we been able to talk to dad more about it we could have probably gotten him to appoint an administrator but he was geared toward beating this until the end and so that is where we kept the focus. And she was just a loveless person who was attacking him with her agenda until the last day so the last thing we wanted was to make him feel like there was anyone else like that in his life. So it was obviously delicate conversation
 
and dads friends were obviously in large part attorneys. So we have to break the news to them today. The one that would have been handling the divorce, I will ask more about the intestate succession attorneys in town. What is better for us, to get an attorney where the estate is or to get one in NOLA where we are?
 
Thank you Chuck. Ugh, yea I figured it was going to be tough. I guess we will go ahead and get an attorney. I am very guarded against my own emotional investment in the process because I have seen that stuff eat people alive.

Our biggest hurdle is that all of the stuff is in the house where we are no longer welcome. Much of it is old valuable furniture stored in a monster attic. Had we been able to talk to dad more about it we could have probably gotten him to appoint an administrator but he was geared toward beating this until the end and so that is where we kept the focus. And she was just a loveless person who was attacking him with her agenda until the last day so the last thing we wanted was to make him feel like there was anyone else like that in his life. So it was obviously delicate conversation

Yeah, that's just an awful situation, I can't imagine. I think Optimus was in a similar situation with his mother last year (though perhaps without the step-parent).

This just shows us all why it's so important to have the will and appointment documents done when we're not facing a life-threatening illness or situation. The emotions and challenges become so much greater.

Everyone reading this post needs to have a will, powers of attorney, and guardianship documents (if you have kids). It doesn't matter how old you are . . . and if your parents or older loved ones don't have these things, encourage them to do it right away. Waiting only invites trouble - you can't expect to get them done from a hospital room.

 
and dads friends were obviously in large part attorneys. So we have to break the news to them today. The one that would have been handling the divorce, I will ask more about the intestate succession attorneys in town. What is better for us, to get an attorney where the estate is or to get one in NOLA where we are?

Where is the estate?
 
Monroe. once we go back there isn’t much reason for us to come back up here except to come get his ashes.

My guess is that it would be better to have the attorney where the estate is domiciled. I would start there, but if you have attorney contacts in New Orleans ask them that question. And ask them to help you find the attorney in Ouachita or wherever.
 
My guess is that it would be better to have the attorney where the estate is domiciled. I would start there, but if you have attorney contacts in New Orleans ask them that question. And ask them to help you find the attorney in Ouachita or wherever.

yes I have a good friend in family law in NOLA. But dad had all the legal contacts I could want right here. I will seek out that advice today. Thanks for your time my friend.
 

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