You won’t be told this by the legal industry and it can be an industry, but an estate administrator can essentially do anything they want with an estate. Most judges believe what the estate’s attorney report to them and don’t really do any follow-up to check the actual facts.
If the heirs believe something is not right they must create their own challenge. The civil court system is mostly likely going to be the venue, where it is pay-to-play and open to heirs willing and capable of putting forth substantial money for a very eye-opening yet not confidence-inspiring experience.
If $250,000 is stolen in a bank robbery a lot of news and attention is given, but if the same amount is stolen from an estate it is very difficult to get the attention of law enforcement or any other officials. There is a web of deceit and who plays the best legal game that is about to take place, which an unsuspecting heir knows nothing about.
Unethical estate administrators can purposely draw perfectly legitimate heirs or beneficiaries into litigation. The heir(s) fund their own part while the administrator/executor finds justification for additional billing against the estate along with legal or other professional services. The administrator makes out like a bandit.
Heirs can also be pressured into giving up their rightful inheritance rather than be at the other end of a made-up dispute.
This has been dubbed as “inheritance litigation tax”. What it is really is extortion and "illegal use of one's official position or powers to obtain property, funds, or patronage" also sounds familiar. The heirs are left with the decision to either spend the time and money fighting or get out. It is very, very ugly.
With the growth of the entitlement mentality where certain people believe they are entitled to wealth just like the rich whether they have earned it or not, probate has become an excellent legal site for grave robbers, property poachers, asset looters and walker stalkers looking to divert assets in a manner contrary to the will of honest, hard-working Americans states.
Inheritance from generation to generation has historically helped to build up American social and economic existence. With the loss of being able to determine the final distribution of one's assets a tragedy is occurring for Americans individually, as families and for us as a country.
Stories of estate abuse and a probate cesspool seem to increase almost weekly and as they do, a generally unsuspecting public is starting to realize the growing threat to their property rights and to their heirs' rights of inheritance. All the more reason to be legally protected from day to day by trustworthy, top-rated, experienced lawyers.
