In re William Holloman
Nov 16, 2011OUTCOME: I appeared and removed the Personal Representative who had mismanaged the estate. The Court also granted a spousal support award. This protected much of Artie’s estate from creditors and she was able to pay for her care without Medicaid.
This was a probate litigation case in which the decedent, retired Army Colonel William Holloman, had died without a Will and had left a surviving spouse, "Artie" who suffered from dementia. Unfortunat ... ely, the Colonel was also survived by complicated children from a previous marriage. Having died without a Will, the Colonel left it to the Court to figure out. The first thing that went wrong in the case was that the wrong person petitioned the Court to be appointed the Personal Representative of his estate. The probate codes provides that the surviving spouse should be appointed the Personal Representative or receive notice before the hearing appointing the Personal Representative. In the Colonel’s case, his estranged daughter opened a probate cause number and obtained an Order appointing her as the Personal Representative of the estate. Inexplicably, this was done without notice to the surviving spouse. In the Colonel’s case, Artie’s daughter could have acted as Personal Representative as the attorney in fact for her mother. It was this daughter who had provided care for her mother and, also the Colonel. She was fully aware of the finances, the bills and the medical needs of not only her mother but the Colonel during his life. The real tragedy of this real case is that the appointed Personal Representative failed to account for the estate assets and pay the bills for the surviving spouse’s care. The family residence went into foreclosure and the surviving spouse was forced to go on Medicaid while litigation ensued in the probate case.
