Quote:
Originally Posted by Hitch
Yeah, I just finished up paying thousands, in legal fees, to defend myself against the bank that held my brother's mortgage. He died intestate, (of course), and my sister and I are the only possible living heirs, at least, in any immediate sense. NEITHER of us wanted anything from his so-called estate, as we'd been supporting him for the last decade, right? So, we said, no, thanks; neither of us stood up to be executrix, nor adminstrator, because other than the house, there was naught to administer. Why take on the brain-damage? Given that there was no will and no assets, who'da thunk that the bank would think that WE could be held liable? Neither of us signed on the mortgage, etc.
It's positively laughable that the mortage holder came after us, given that the house is FAR from upside down. Not enough in it to entice either of us to take it over and flip it, as it's at a distance, and all that, but enough for the mortgage holder to become whole-plus. FFS, we told them over a year ago that he had passed away. It's ridiculous that it's taken them all this time, and that they're suing US, as if we're absconding with $$$ or anything else.
Urgh.
Oh, @Rumple: Sorry, I should have been clearer. I didn't mean I was lecturing you; I meant anyone who comes along later and reads the thread. Sorry! I figure you're the LAST person on this thread who needs that lecture, LOL.
Hitch
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Oh, no I didn't mean that I thought you were lecturing me. Merely that I totally agree with what you've said. And I'm sorry for what you've been through with you're brother's estate.
Iirc, in the Netherlands there are three options when it comes to an inheritance. You can accept it, reject it or you can accept it provisionally (not sure what the right English term is). Which means you wait until the inheritance is legally dealt with, if anything unexpected arises you can still reject it. Drawback is that you can't do anything with the property of the deceased. If you take a pen of theirs you accept the inheritance with everything that comes with it. Now, my grandmother didn't have much. When she moved from her apartment to a care home all family members were asked to get the items they wanted, what was left was donated or thrown away. My grandmother had her clothes, some jewelry (not much monetary worth), some artwork (again, not much worth) and two wooden dressers/cupboards. The dressers were left at the care home, they were in the communal areas, with the understanding that if needed we could always come and get them. The rest of my grandmother's stuff, about three boxes, are stored by my aunt.
We have already agreed (without my uncle) that my aunt should get the jewelry, since they have an emotional value to her. The rest we have to see when everything is dealt with.
A couple of weeks ago I typed over my grandfather's will (we only had one, badly xeroxed copy of it) and that was clear. He even foresaw that there was a possibility that his children would disagree. After his death my grandmother made a new will, which is more vague. We are fairly sure my uncle influenced her, but can't prove it. Luckily, due to the way my grandfather's will was set up it takes precedence over my grandmother's will.