Where do I go from here....?

My aunt and I are both executors of my grandmother estate; prior to my grandmother death my aunt systematically had been transferring my grandmothers property into her name and telling her siblings and I that she needed to do this because of my grandmothers medical conditions.

My grandparents had purchased this property after the death of my parents and used benefit money she received to make payments. I have a sibling and throughout our childhood into adulthood my grandmother has always reminded the family that upon her death that my sibling and I would get the property for as long as we needed it, but when my sibling and I agreed to sell the property that we divide the proceeds equally amongst her children living or deceased.

When I asked my aunt about the will and what we were going to do with the property my aunt said "there is no will" and that she owned the property. The estate never went into probate. It took me a very long time but I have now located the law firm that prepared the will.

The attorney believes that fraud has been committed by my aunt and her adult children because last year she transferred the property in her children names (one of her children showed me the will that is how I knew I was an executor).

I will be meeting with the attorney and I don't know what to ask, I have been looking for the will for such a long time just to prove that it exist, that I never thought that fraud would be a consideration.

I would greatly appreciate the help that you will give to me and my family.

Legitimate answers only - Thank you everyone.

The property is located in Los Angeles, California

As far as I know there is no POA, when my grandmother was going to have major surgery she had stated to me that she got the other family members to agree that she would transfer the property into her name in the event that there was a problem with the surgery. At that time I did not know the status of the will.

I also don't know what other items were in the estate, money, annuities, saving or insurances. I currently live one of the properties, there is some antique pieces that were given to me when I went to college, but now my aunts daughter want the pieces. Will I have to give them back, no one knew the pieces had value, in fact I was given the pieces before they went into the trash.

Not quite sure what you are asking but sounds like you're smart and don't need too much advice. Is the attorney you're meeting with the atty who prepared the will? Does he also handle cases that involve fraudulent transfers? If he's not able to handle the case,can he recommend someone? Either way, I'd take a few days to think about it and call your bar association to get more recommendations. You may also think about going down to probate court and talking to someone in theClerk's Office - they are usually very helpful and may offer suggestions or point you to resources you didn't know were available. They won't give advice but perhaps if you mention the atty you are thinking about they may give you a "nod" if he's okay.

You're there to get advice so don't worry too much about which questions to ask - no matter what, more will come up later. Some may be - How much does he charge? Do you have to pay up front or will he accept payment on contingency or when the estate is settled? If your aunt claims that she did not know there was a will, can the transfers still be undone?

Good luck

i bet your rich

Your lawyer is going to have fun with this. If there is a legal will (and you apparently found one), and your aunt knew about it, she is guilty of fraud. She had no power to do anything with any property after the death without your approval, and any such transaction have to follow the will.

As for her actions prior to the death, she must have had a power of attorney, unless she was forging gm's signature. If she did have a POA, she had a duty to act in the gm's best interests, and it would be difficult to argue transferring property out of her name would do that.

Good luck, your main question to the lawyer should be: what can we do to retrieve the fraudulently transferred property?