Deborah Cole was asked to mediate a dispute involving seven adult siblings who all had differing opinions as to the appropriate care and proper residence of their elderly mother. The Guardian Ad Litem..., a lawyer appointed by the court to investigate the situation without taking sides in the dispute, asked the judge to refer the case to mediation. The dispute had been ongoing in court for over a year. On the day of the mediation, five of the siblings were physically present and two were on the phone. Ms. Cole got the parties talking and listening to each other in a manner that had not occurred earlier. In the process, the parties discussed a lot of wounds that had been allowed to fester, most of which had nothing to do Mom or her care, but all of which were standing in the way of meaningful discussions with each other. Dislike of spouses, jealousy, discipline issues with each other’s children, and unrealistic estimates of the cost of care were just some of the things that were laid bare. In the end, Ms. Cole’s skills as a mediator helped opened the lines of communication, and enabled her to assist the parties by redirecting their attention to what was really important. She helped them weigh their options in and out of court and ultimately forge an agreement for Mom’s care that they all could agree to, in writing!. Afterwards, Ms. Cole volunteered for a task force working on formalizing mediation referrals in adult guardianship cases in the Circuit Court of Cook County.
Real estate
A Will Would Have Saved the Day!
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OUTCOME: Successful Real Estate Closing on Inherited Property
Ms. Cole has often been heard to say that handling estate and trust disputes has made her
a better estate planner. This case was a great example. Mom was divorced and had 3 children; Jane, Sam and ...Ellen. Mom owned a modest home where she lived until her health declined and it became necessary that she move in with her daughter Jane and Jane’s husband Elliot. Mom died without a will in 1984. Jane was the Administrator of her estate, however, after she paid all bills, taxes etc, she never got around to deeding out the property to herself and her siblings, or selling it. Jane died in 1996 without a will. She was survived by Elliot and 9 children. She and Elliot had eight children and they adopted Ellen’s only child. When Elliot consulted with me, he stated that he was getting up in years, and he was tired. He wanted to sell Mom’s property but the realtor told him he would need to consult an attorney. Elliot had been taking care of Mom’s property since before she moved in with he and Jane. He dealt with the tenants, he made repairs, cut the grass, shoveled snow and he paid the taxes and the insurance. Now he wanted to sell it, and he felt entitled to the proceeds, 100%. Unfortunately, since he was not the owner, he wasn’t entitled to all of the proceeds, only one half of Jane’s 1/3 which is what the law provided since Jane died without a will. The other half would be shared among children. By this time, Ellen was also deceased without a will. By law, Ellen’s only child, Mark was entitled to her 1/3 share even though he had been adopted by Jane and Elliot. Sam was also deceased and of course he didn’t have a will either. Sam was survived by a wife who was living and a son, Sam Jr. Sam Jr. was also deceased, without of will of course. He had been married several times and had several children, some of whom were products of one of the marriages, and several more who were from outside relationships. We finally identified 18 heirs, those persons entitled to a share of the proceeds by law. Each heir needed to consent to the sale.
Elliot wanted to proceed because he was sure that his kids, including Mark, would sign over their share to him, and getting 2./3 of the property would be better than nothing. The fun started when 5 of his 8 kids wouldn’t cooperate. It took months to find Mark, a frequent guest of the correctional system. When we did find him, he was angry because no one had come to see about him while he was incarcerated. He had a lot of abandonment issues. Sam’s branch of the family was an entirely different story. First, it was a challenge locating them all. Sam Jr. ’s last wife was a big help in this regard. Don’t believe everything you hear about evil stepmothers. However, Sam Jr.’s kids were angry that they never knew about this inheritance. and were livid that Elliot had been “hiding” it from them. Most of them barely remembered Sam, if they every met him and they didn’t even know Mom’s name. It took months, lots of meetings and cajoling to get all of the consents signed, but we got it done. Finally!!!!! And the moral of the story, everybody needs an estate plan!!!! And of course, don’t waste time money and energy on property you don’t own, particularly when the owner has no will and lots of heirs!!!!!
In Addition to Real Estate Law, Success in this matter required knowledge and experience in Estate Planning and Probate Law
