Informality and Probate
Informality is the enemy of estate and trust administration. What do I mean by that? I mean that, when a decedent handled his affairs informally prior to death, or when informality reigns following his death, then you can be assured of a mess. Let me share three examples:
1. Ray Danner died in August of 2008. As this article explains, Mr. Danner made a number of loans prior to his death. His estate is now trying to collect on these loans. The defendants' defense:
“It was the accepted practice of the parties that Danner would loan the money with the expectation of repayment only if the entity were profitable. The parties have no reason to believe other than that in this case.”
If that's true, then -- yikes! I don't know if I want to live in a world where someone is loaned money and signs a note, yet all of the parties understand that the loan needn't be repaid.
2. I am involved in a series of connected probate cases. The cases involve three siblings and their aunt (who predeceased them). The aunt died in 1999 -- since then, very little has been done with respect to her property. So it sits, vacant, awaiting sale and distribution to her 35 heirs (because the aunt died without a Will). But wait! We now find out that perhaps the property wasn't owned by the aunt at all, but rather by her sister. And did I forget to mention the "agreement" that may or may not have existed between two siblings, in which they tried to bypass probate by informally dividing up the property of deceased relatives?
3. Remember Redd Foxx? The star of "Sanford and Son," a surprisingly blue standup comedian, and the man who once remarked that “[t]here's nothin' uglier than an old white woman"? Mr. Foxx died 19 years ago, but his estate is still... in the Red(d). (Sorry, couldn't resist. I'll be here all week.) His estate owes back taxes, but what's been collected or done since his death? Not much of anything, it appears. Is there money to pay the bill or, if not, does the estate own anything that could be sold? The article is here.
