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Unethical Executrix (Oklahoma, Texas and Georgia)
My father died in July 2004 and he left his assets in trust to be distributed to his children. My much younger sister was appointed executrix of the estate because at the time the decision was made I was very ill and remain physically disabled. My sister has a PhD in Education and is experienced in manipulating facts to her benefit. Essentially, after years of discussion and agreement on how Dad's estate would be handled she completely reversed her attitude and thus the administration.
From the beginning the estate attorney and my sister have treated me as an adversary rather than a rightful heir. I have to demand information in writing to get anything. My dad died in Oklahoma, I live in Texas, and my sister lives in Georgia. My brother's (who is schizophrenic & totally disabled) portion of the estate is controlled by my sister and she has treated him much the same as she has me, in fact, he is abandoned in Oklahoma with no guardian to be certain he is taking care of himself since my Mother now lives in Georgia with my sister. He needed a vehicle replacement and my sister made him wait over 6 months and then when a vehicle was purchased, it needed major repairs within a month. Clearly my sister is unwilling to part with the money she has control over which is supposed to be for the care of my brother.
All feelings aside there is an issue of a huge number of personal and professional tools that were part of the personal property in the estate. The tools were never itemized in the valuation of the household goods, just a vague notation was listed in the first distribution schedule. When I demanded an explanation of where the tools were I have received various vague answers from my Mother (who was divorced from my Dad) and no answer from my sister. I did some investigation on my own and found a sufficiently unusual tool among many others sold by the same person on E-Bay that indicates strongly that the tools were taken from the estate and moved to Georgia where they were sold on E-Bay. At this point I have not involved the police because I felt they would do nothing but perhaps I should?
My Sister allowed my Mother to live in one remaining real estate property (in fact spent estate resources to redecorate and repair the house) rent free; however, shortly thereafter she became unable to care for herself so the house has been sitting empty for over a year! One month ago I demanded that the estate attorney notify Mother to remove her belongings and the property be sold and she refused to acknowledge my correspondence so I'm set to send a second request via confirmation delivery.
What do I do?? My research of OK statutes seems to indicate I have two years from the date I discovered the tools were missing to file a notice, since I wrote to the estate attorney is that sufficient or do I have to hire an attorney to file these documents? Do I contact the police and if so, can I do it here in Texas or do I have to travel to Oklahoma to file those charges? I don't know the resale value of the tools as I could only get very limited information from E-Bay. It truly seems colossally unfair that I should have to hire another attorney to be certain this estate is handled fairly. I'm also extremely concerned about my brother's well being. I just hate to walk away being cheated by my completely unethical Sister who clearly thinks she has outsmarted everyone. Not to mention, it's just not right that someone with a PhD and a good job feels it's her right to cheat her disabled siblings out of funds that belong in the estate; that fact alone confirms her lack of fitness to serve as executrix, in my opinion.
Apologies for the length of this posting but it was necessary, any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated.
From the beginning the estate attorney and my sister have treated me as an adversary rather than a rightful heir. I have to demand information in writing to get anything. My dad died in Oklahoma, I live in Texas, and my sister lives in Georgia. My brother's (who is schizophrenic & totally disabled) portion of the estate is controlled by my sister and she has treated him much the same as she has me, in fact, he is abandoned in Oklahoma with no guardian to be certain he is taking care of himself since my Mother now lives in Georgia with my sister. He needed a vehicle replacement and my sister made him wait over 6 months and then when a vehicle was purchased, it needed major repairs within a month. Clearly my sister is unwilling to part with the money she has control over which is supposed to be for the care of my brother.
All feelings aside there is an issue of a huge number of personal and professional tools that were part of the personal property in the estate. The tools were never itemized in the valuation of the household goods, just a vague notation was listed in the first distribution schedule. When I demanded an explanation of where the tools were I have received various vague answers from my Mother (who was divorced from my Dad) and no answer from my sister. I did some investigation on my own and found a sufficiently unusual tool among many others sold by the same person on E-Bay that indicates strongly that the tools were taken from the estate and moved to Georgia where they were sold on E-Bay. At this point I have not involved the police because I felt they would do nothing but perhaps I should?
My Sister allowed my Mother to live in one remaining real estate property (in fact spent estate resources to redecorate and repair the house) rent free; however, shortly thereafter she became unable to care for herself so the house has been sitting empty for over a year! One month ago I demanded that the estate attorney notify Mother to remove her belongings and the property be sold and she refused to acknowledge my correspondence so I'm set to send a second request via confirmation delivery.
What do I do?? My research of OK statutes seems to indicate I have two years from the date I discovered the tools were missing to file a notice, since I wrote to the estate attorney is that sufficient or do I have to hire an attorney to file these documents? Do I contact the police and if so, can I do it here in Texas or do I have to travel to Oklahoma to file those charges? I don't know the resale value of the tools as I could only get very limited information from E-Bay. It truly seems colossally unfair that I should have to hire another attorney to be certain this estate is handled fairly. I'm also extremely concerned about my brother's well being. I just hate to walk away being cheated by my completely unethical Sister who clearly thinks she has outsmarted everyone. Not to mention, it's just not right that someone with a PhD and a good job feels it's her right to cheat her disabled siblings out of funds that belong in the estate; that fact alone confirms her lack of fitness to serve as executrix, in my opinion.
Apologies for the length of this posting but it was necessary, any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated.
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