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Can the personal rep withhold these forms and info from the benificiaries
Warminster, PA
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Posted 12 months ago in Probate
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benefiiaries rights:
My sister is personal representative of my fathers will. He died eight months ago.He had alot of different anuities and funds where personal rep gets forms sends them out to beneficiaries they fill out the forms send them in and recieve their share of funds.There are six sisters and everything is to be split equally between all six. What the prsonal representative is doing though is only getting forms for three of the sisters and two sisters aren't recieving anythig. no forms no information nothing. Both sisters have tried calling her and she will not return their calls. they have tried talking to the lawyer thatwrote out fathers will he will not talk to them.they have also contacted a couple of the anuities companies and were told only yhr personal representative can download the forms.The other three sisters have recieved forms and also their checks.Can the personal rep withhold these forms and info from the benificiaries? What can benificiaries do or who can they contact?
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Answers (1)
Barry J. Dubrow
This attorney is licensed in Pennsylvania.
Posted 12 months ago.
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Not all assets pass under a Will. The Will indeed might name 6 sisters as equal beneficiaries, but that only covers probate assets. Non-probate assets include life insurance, annuities, retirement accounts -- basically anything where a person can fill out a beneificiary designation. Such assets transfer automatically as a matter of law, and not under the Will as part of the probate process. This may be why talking to the scrivener (lawyer who wrote the Will) has been unfruitful -- ultimately, it's not up to the lawyer what a person does with his beneficiary forms.
On the other hand, whenever I prepare a Will I make certain to ascertain beneficiary designations on all the client's non-probate assets. This is a part of prudent estate planning on a lawyer's part. So it is possible that the lawyer failed to carry out the wishes of your father or neglected to ask. Of course, unless there is an ongoing relationship between client and lawyer, the lawyer may not be in the loop at all relevant times what various assets a client is accumulating. As to why sisters are not behaving civilly with each other, or why your father would favor three sisters, I cannot answer. Suffice it to say that there are always underlying family issues which rationally explains the seemingly irrational behavior. In other words it is difficult to assess or pass judgment on just what is going on here and I, like you seem to be, am in the dark. I just hope I have been able to shed some light on why 4 sisters may be collecting from certain assets, while 2 sisters are not. Feel free to contact me if you would like to discuss this further.
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