<p>An attorney would be useful to consult to be sure you discharge ALL your obligations and all the deceased debts. Not putting a notice on the paper could easily be penny wise and pound foolish.</p>
<p>from pea:
</p>
<p>pea – you took the words right out of my mouth. H’s father is still living, but only barely, and already his sister has pressured him out of money he was supposed to be safe guarding for his father. When he told me about it, it had already happened. After reading this thread, I told him not to disburse any more funds. He agreed.</p>
<p>Dadx, “I am not aware of the specific rules” pretty much sums up what all of use who are not attorneys know about this process. GET AN ATTORNEY. You don’t know what you don’t know. Someone else said, “Who would know things like that on their own?” There have been gobs of things like that in our path on the estate. If it is truly simple, the attorney will not cost a lot because they won’t spend a lot of time on it. I am not suggesting that the OP hand over all executor responsibilities to the attorney (that IS expensive – unless you really have no skills or time, don’t do that). But a consultation to figure out what the legal steps are that are required and whether they are correctly handling the accounts, bills, and taxes is critical. </p>
<p>Here are some of the types of things you can be sued for as an executor if you do not execute them correctly:</p>
<p>•You fail to properly secure and insure the assets of the estate, and it suffers a loss as a result.
•You diminish the estate through imprudent investments or inadequate record keeping.
•You fail to pay taxes on the estate, in which case you may be personally liable for interest and penalties.
•You sell an asset of the estate without authority to do so.
•You delay settlement of the estate unnecessarily or are tardy in executing important transactions.
•You engage in actions that constitute a conflict of interest.
•You improperly delegate decisions to others who have no legal authority over the estate.
•You approve a coexecutor’s or coadministrator’s breach of duty.</p>
<p>When my second parent died, my sister was the executor. She was a renowned trust and estate attorney in the state where he died (now retired), and she is the most honest person I know. I was entirely comfortable with her handling everything. She told me several years later that, whenever the division created an odd penny (e.g., $10,872.69), she gave it to my share.</p>
<p>She is my executor, if I die before she does. I trust her more than I trust myself. I’m extremely lucky to have her as my sister. :)</p>
<p>In Iowa, the attorney’s fee could not exceed a percentage of the estate. Money well spent.</p>
<p>Intparent is correct. Not only are their details that must be attended to, there is ultimately a priority to those, which debts, eg, should be satisfied ahead of others.</p>
<ul>
<li>You fail to properly secure and insure the assets of the estate, and it suffers a loss as a result.</li>
</ul>
<p>Judge: Did your mother ever purchase Savings Bonds?<br>
Executor: Probably.
Judge: Show me proof that those bonds were cashed.</p>
<p>It took months to collect that proof. As many have said previously, “When it comes to settling an Estate, you often don’t know what you don’t know.”</p>
<p>I have not been an executor of an estate–fortunately, so far–though that might happen in the future. I believe that my father-in-law wound up paying about 10% of a moderately sized estate when he hired an attorney to assist (with the disposition of my mother-in-law’s estate). The attorney’s fees were well over $10,000. I am not exactly sure how much over. There was nothing complicated about the will or property. And this was quite a few years ago.</p>
<p>I will add that none of the family is litigious. The likelihood that my father-in-law would have been sued by anyone over the handling of the estate was essentially zero.</p>
<p>In Iowa, attorney’s fees appear to be limited to $220 + 2% of the gross value of the estate over $5,000, if I am reading this:
[Probate</a> Estate Administration Overview :: Ames Iowa Attorneys Story County Lawyers :: Pasley and Singer Law Firm LLP](<a href=“http://www.singerlaw.com/probate_estate_administration.asp]Probate”>Probate Estate Administration Overview :: Ames Iowa Estate Business Property Trial Lawyers and Attorneys :: Pasley and Singer Law Firm LLP)
correctly.</p>
<p>That could still be quite a lot. I will concede that people might need the assistance of an attorney to settle an estate in some circumstances.</p>
<p>I have seen this situation. It happens all the time. The usual advice is to look at the estate through an accounting, not legal lens. Figure out what should be reserved and disburse some or all of the rest. There really is no reason not to do this and it’s fairly common advice in trust & estates practice to tell the family, particularly the executor, that this is your family, that their happiness is important, that there are only a few hurdles to get over to close an estate - notably filing the proper tax forms - and that paying out some cash can be a good way to show matters are being thought through in the way that benefits all.</p>
<p>BTW, probably not an issue for you, but some people try to distribute as fast as possible if any liabilities might pop up. I’m not talking bills but something like a lawsuit. Having an estate with little gives leverage in settlement. I’m being very general of course because some lawsuits are small and some large. I’ve seen money distributed in wealthy estates to avoid legal liabilities, with the distributions set up to make recovery as tough as possible. Each layer of crap a litigant must fight through increases costs and each increase lowers the present value of the lawsuit.</p>
<p>So I would say talk to the person who does the estate tax return, talk to the nursing home and get a marked final bill, and present this to your family. You should then have a number set as a reserve.</p>
<p>Other states seem to allow higher attorney’s fees as a percent of the value of the estate than does Iowa.</p>
<p>Just fyi, from Nolo.com-</p>
<p>The worst way to pay a probate lawyer—from the estate’s point of view—is to pay a percentage of the value of the estate as the fee. This is customary only in a few states. And even in those states, lawyers are not required by law to collect a percentage fee. You can and should try to negotiate an hourly rate or flat fee with the lawyer. But many lawyers prefer the ”statutory fee” because it’s usually very high in relation to the amount of work they have to do.</p>
<p>State law allows lawyers to charge a set percentage fee in: Arkansas, Missouri, California, Montana, Florida, Wyoming, Iowa</p>
<p>I’m in the “get an attorney” camp, but I’m also into the “use the computer to educate yourself because the law is written down and is in English” camp.</p>
<p>I’m too old and have too many experiences with highly educated professionals who were less informed than I was about something simply because I got off my tail and spent an hour looking things up. Do that first, and then find a lawyer.</p>
<p>Looking around on the web a bit, I now consider it likely that my father-in-law was persuaded to request additional attorney services beyond those strictly necessary to settle the estate. Personally, I will try to avoid doing this, if I do hire an attorney.</p>
<p>QuantMech, seriously… if you haven’t done it, you really can’t provide advice on this. You have NO IDEA what the nuances are of this (neither did I until I got into it – and I still know that I don’t know a lot of them… but the attorneys do). Plus… things like that “gross value of the estate” has its own pitfalls. Did the executor prepare an inventory of assets (appraised value) and liabilities as of the deceased’s date of death? There are legal steps like that needed to calculate that “gross value”. What if some of the property lost value before it could be disposed of (poster child for that one here due to the real estate crash/recession)? If you FIL ceded most of the executor responsibilities to the attorney, then I bet it did cost $10,000. I am big on doing my own legwork to avoid high legal fees… but I know enough to get their advice before humping off to do the work myself.</p>
<p>Plus, the OP says their sibling IS questioning their handling of the estate. So even though you are certain your family is not litigious, does not mean the OPs is not.</p>
<p>Okay, I have shifted my position on hiring an attorney–but just want to note that it could be costly. Especially if one doesn’t live in Iowa.</p>
<p>I think it cost well over $10,000–it has been many years, so I am no longer certain of the exact figure. (“Well over” = more than a factor of 2.)</p>
<p>A few other (admittedly, ignorance-based) thoughts:</p>
<p>If you hire an attorney to assist with settling the estate, then I think that the attorney’s costs come out of the estate, and thus often tend to reduce the final settlement to each of the heirs? Yes? The executor doesn’t have to pay the attorney’s fees personally, with no cost to others? If the other heirs are complaining already, perhaps it would be wise to consult them before hiring an attorney?</p>
<p>If a person is overcome by grief, as I can easily imagine happening in many cases, the attorney’s fees could be well worth it.</p>
<p>If you have a paid tax preparer or tax accountant for your income taxes, it probably makes sense to hire an attorney.</p>
<p>If you hire an attorney to assist with settling the estate, then I think that the attorney’s costs come out of the estate, and thus often tend to reduce the final settlement to each of the heirs? Yes? The executor doesn’t have to pay the attorney’s fees personally, with no cost to others? If the other heirs are complaining already, perhaps it would be wise to consult them before hiring an attorney?</p>
<p>While the part of attorney’s fees reducing the final size of the estate is true, it’s far better than DIY in such an ignorant/blind manner that the estate incurs greater costs or incurring legal issues through this stumbling in the dark.</p>
<p>As for consulting with others…I’m of the opinion that an executor who does that is asking for trouble…especially if the potential heirs are being difficult already.</p>
<p>Moreover, someone who is so indecisive or wavering as to consult others…especially when their interests may conflict with the executor’s primary duty…to pay off all estate debts/expenses/taxes and then distribute what’s left according to the deceased’s wishes is frankly IMO, not fit to be given the responsibility to be an executor in the first place.</p>
<p>This is one case where like the case of Louis XVI…being indecisive and wavering doesn’t pay off. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Unless one is a trained attorney specializing in trust & estates of the particular jurisdiction concerned, it’d be the height of stupidity to not hire an attorney even on a consulting basis. </p>
<p>I say this as someone who is comfortable preparing his own taxes and those of some friends.</p>
<p>Sorry to return to this, when I do not have the direct experience of being an executor of an estate.</p>
<p>However, even though time has largely erased the memory of actual number involved in the attorney’s bill for settling my mother-in-law’s estate, I still have a vivid emotional recollection of how upset my father-in-law was about the attorney’s fees. (The attorney was recommended to him by my then brother-in-law, also an attorney, and now ex-brother-in-law.)</p>
<p>Every other estate that has been settled in my immediate family has been settled without assistance from an attorney, and there have been no problems with any of them.</p>
<p>Everyone’s circumstances are different. I just think that it is important to go into this with eyes wide open.</p>
<p>Just to add: My list of instances in which I think it makes sense to hire an attorney (as cited by cobrat) was not meant to be exhaustive–just a couple of the many possible circumstances in which I agree that it makes sense.</p>