Sometimes it may feel like an estate is going to exist forever. Maybe your mother left life estates to friends or families. May she also has devised the remainder to you and others, does the estate stay open until the life estate terminates? At some point a Delray Beach Personal Representativemay desire to move on and ask the question can the court help? A Personal Representativein New York did just that in the case of In re Estate of Grutzner, how do you think the court responded?
The Indefinate Estate
- Florida Courts do not look kindly on estates that persist into perpetuity, can you imagine why?
- Can you imagine what it would be like if everytime property changed hands the buyer and seller had to go back through will after will to determine what to do with it?
- Typically how long an estate is open is really based on several factors. Can you think of any?
Just a Few Factors that can Lengthen Probate
- How many descendants or heirs will be inheriting under the Palm Beach Estate?
- How much is there to be distributed? Do you think a Court takes the same duty of precision and care in distributing a $1,000 estate as compared to a $1,000,000 estate?
- The family situation. If family members are fighting and wills are being contested do you think probate will wrap up in record time? Palm Beach Probate litigators know that the first step to quick probate is family members that agree. As the case below shows sometimes this is not the only thing slowing down probate.
- The nature of the will and the various devises of property (how the property is given to heirs).
In re Estate of Grutzner, New York Surrogate’s Court of Westchester County denies a Personal Representative request for a reading of a will that would end years of probate disputes.
- The New York Surrogate Court hears the same types of cases that Florida Probate Courts hear.
- Here, the administrator (in Florida we call these Personal Representatives) was the grandson of the decedent and he sought a court order that construed the decedent’s will in a way to allow for final distribution (i.e. to empty out the estate and close it). The administrator’s father objected to such a reading saying that it was contrary to the intent of his mother.
- The case centered around whether a will truly reflected the testator’s intent. The decedent had not updated the will in so many years and a large portion of the will became invalid when a life estate was granted to a friend that pre-deceased (died before) the testator.
- See how family infighting and the will’s nature intertwined and increased the length of probate?
Want to learn more? Read the entire case by clicking here.