Q about estate disbursement?

My father passed away in October 2007. My Brother in Colorado is the executor. I鈥榤 not sure what the status of his estate is with the Probate Court. (Its in Georgia). My brother is saying that he can鈥檛 pay any of us (beneficiaries) anything until the estate is completely settled and after he pays the estate taxes. He says that won鈥檛 happen until Feb 2009. But hasn鈥檛 really given us a reason other than he has to pay taxes in Feb 鈥?9

For my personal situation, it would be better if I could get several small disbursements instead of one lump sum in 2009. I really need a disbursement now. Is it legal for him to make disbursements before the entire estate is settled? There is still a house and a boat pending sale, but my brother already has access to my Dad鈥檚 checking, savings, stocks /bonds, and such.

Thanks for your response.

Hi Vicki - know jacks**t about this stuff except my parents' wealth won't even meet funeral costs. Just sorry you lost your Dad. Let big brother play it his way. Keep your pride and especially your, hopefully nice, memories of your pop. Tony xxx

It depends on the situation. I was administrator when my mother died. She left a house (worth about $250,000) and $12,000 in cash. Not much else. My unemployed brother was furious at me for not paying out the $12,000 in cash before the house was sold. But I didn't know how many expenses there might be to sell the house. (For one thing, when we finally got an offer, the seller demanded a couple thousand dollars worth of electrical repairs be done.) There were other expenses such as property taxes, insurance, and utilities. Furthermore, this brother was LIVING in the house while I was trying to sell it and he was not a good housekeeper, to say the least. I refused, waited until all assets had been sold and all bills paid, including funeral expenses and lawyers fees. Then each of us (me and my 2 brothers) got a distribution of about $75,400.

Only when ALL the estate liabilities are known is the executor able to determine if a partial distribution can be made. That won't be known until the house & boat are sold and -- if there are estate taxes due -- an estate tax return is filed, any taxes are paid and the US Treasury Department issues an estate tax receipt or clearance letter. Your brother probably told you Feb. '09 because his lawyer told him that is the earliest the clearance letter could be received. In practice, the IRS could take considerably longer than that. Don't be surprised if it takes much longer.

>> I really need a disbursement now.<< If you need $$ now you might approach one of the other beneficiaries about a loan to be re-paid from your share when disbursement is made.

Sounds about right. Generally takes a few months to get probate open; and pretty much every state holds dispursement of funds till after probate is closed; and that generally takes a year.

Estates don't disburse for your tax advantages. Generally, NO it is not legal to disburse now; he is responsible for seeing all bills are in to the estate and money is there to cover everything or he is legally liable.

He may have access; doesn't mean he can touch the funds for anything except legitimate estate expenses unless he wants to go to jail.

If he is nominated as an executer of your late father's will, then I believe he will be under a certain legal obligations to fulfill all that is required by law to do so, including the taxes that are owed and due, as well as any other obligation.

I understand that you must be under some financial hardship, but you can certainly come to a private arrangement with him as to get some kind of advancement from him until he is fully able to distribute the monies left behind.

I hope I have been a help

1) federal or state?

2) Federal does not really care. The executor is personally responsible for the tax due. And there will be an IRS audit on the return.

3) State is different. But usually, estate has to be inventoried before any disbursemenrts can be made.

i would think as a beneficairy to your dads estate you would be able to contact the courts and ger records of the status,
usually this kinda thign is public record anyway.
i hate to say it but sometimes 1) it takes a long time to deal with probate court 2) people get mean, greedy and selfish when someone dies
try gettinthe info abotu your dads probate status from the court house. usually they just want to know who is calling, you will need a case number and the phone number to the county/distric clerk where it is being probated.

there is such a thing as "spendthrift trust" which is where your inheritence would be placed in a trust thst disubrse your funds in regular amounts at regular intervals it is intended to protect people who will bow through the money quickly.

the executor makes those decisions. Unless he is doing something for pure personal gain, there is not much you can do. An Estate can be very complicated as can the taxes.