Dear Quentin, My mother recently passed away and I was written out of the will, except for a small amount. She and I had several disagreements over the past two years. This change of will occurred 15 months prior to her death, with her executors present. The remainder of her estate is being divided between my siblings.
My mother invested in an annuity more than 10 years ago, and all of her children were named as equal-share beneficiaries. Two months prior to her death, at the time she was deemed ready for hospice, one of my siblings (who was her power of attorney and is now the executor of her will) cashed out the annuity and placed the funds into my mother’s account. Thus, the annuity funds are now general-estate account funds, eliminating me from access to them. Do you feel that I have a claim due to the way this was handled by the executors for their benefit, or would I be turned down in court? All estate lawyers want a substantial amount of money up front to discuss this, so any advice is appreciated. And they wonder why we’re not getting together at Christmas. Thank you in advance for your time. Axed from the WillDear Axed, …