Wanted to throw a quick question out there to any unsuspected "legal" scholars who might possible wander thru. This involved the estate of my mother and step-father, an unfunded living trust of which I am not the trustee for.
I will generalize below the squiggly line, and I realize that this is a political site and that any opinions expressed are not to be taken as legal advise.
My mother remarried 30 years ago. She brought most of the assets into the relationship. They each owned a house when they were married, her next worth considerably more than his (not that it matters).
Ten years ago they set out to put things in order, and created a living trust. They spelled out how their property would be divided upon their deaths. 5 kids, each getting an equal share with one exception. 4 from my moms side, and a step-brother from step-dads side. The house brought into the relationship by step dad would go to step son outright.
My mom passed away 4 years ago, and this January my step father passed away. Her via Leukemia, him a broken heart.
We have now discovered that the living trust was never properly funded. The actual properties were never moved into the trust, nor was just about anything.
My sister is the executor of the estate. We set out to prove that all of said kids (5) were in agreement and hoped to move forward, when my brother threw a wrinkle into things. He is simply never gotten over drug abuse from the 70's. Basically lives pay check to pay check, in and out of jail, and basically just a misreable angry, scarry person. He decided that he didn't want anything to do with his family ever again, and refused to agree to anything, refused to accept anything in the mail, refuses to talk to any of us, and refuses to listen to voice mails, anything. He has basically accussed us of doing things behind his back and says he never wants to talk or see any of us ever again. It really doesn make sense because he stands the most to gain by this all going forward.
So, the question becomes, could the courts simply make some kind of ruling that the entire estate goes to the 1 remaining child of step-dad? I don't think the step son would go out of way asking for this. Remember, I simplified some things here and he (stepson) has some advantages for all of us getting along.
Thanks for reading, and if you have a comment, I think you again in advance.