Lies from representative of an estate

[JynxDouglas]

So my mother passed away & her sister had the courts appoint her as the representative of her estate. This was without me knowing because I didn’t know anything about the subject. I know for a fact my mother had life insurance. My aunt told me she did not. I did an online search and it came back telling me that she had 5 and that death benefits were paid on them. The next thing I know, she is driving around in a brand new car with vanity plates that have her initials and my moms initials on them. I did some more poking around and found that her and her daughters mortgages were both suddenly paid in full. Is it possible she may have somehow received the payments? I’m positive if my mother had life insurance, my aunt would not of been her chosen beneficiary. It would’ve been my brother, myself or my two daughters before my aunt

 

[kpbdy99]

The insurance carrier knows who the beneficiary was, and that's to whom they pay the death benefits.

 

[adjusterjack]

So my mother passed away & her sister had the courts appoint her as the representative of her estate. This was without me knowing because I didn’t know anything about the subject. I know for a fact my mother had life insurance.

That your aunt became representative of the estate has absolutely nothing to do with any life insurance because life insurance bypasses the estate and is paid to the beneficiary.

My aunt told me she did not. I did an online search and it came back telling me that she had 5 and that death benefits were paid on them.

OK, so your aunt is a liar. If she was the beneficiary of the policies she was entitled to the money.

Is it possible she may have somehow received the payments?

Would certainly seem so.

I’m positive if my mother had life insurance, my aunt would not of been her chosen beneficiary. It would’ve been my brother, myself or my two daughters before my aunt

In your mind you are positive. The reality appears different.

 

[scagnt83]

The only way for the funds to be accessible to the executor of the estate, would be if no beneficiary was listed, or the estate was listed as the beneficiary.

Life Insurance funds bypass probate and go straight to the listed beneficiary.

So IF you were listed as beneficiary, your aunt would have had to impersonate you... and would have had access to your personal info (such as social security number) to do so.

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Assuming for a second you were listed as beneficiary. You can call those insurance companies and they will tell you if you are a listed beneficiary or not. If you are, they will tell you if they paid out the claim yet or not. If they did, and someone else received it. They will launch an investigation and you could contact the authorities (they would contact the authorities as well).

So if you think you are a beneficiary, call those companies you found she had a policy with. They will tell you if you were listed or not.

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When it comes to the estate, if you feel funds were abused or mishandled, you could always file suit against your aunt. If there was a Will, she had a legal fiduciary duty to follow its instructions. If she didnt, then she could be sued to recover the abused funds.

If there was no will, and there were significant assets, you should have hired an attorney yourself when she was granted executor of the estate.

 

[DHK]

For reference, if you want to see if there are any outstanding policies:

Life Insurance Policy Locator

MIB, Inc. - Assistance Finding Lost Life Insurance

 

[fed up]

1 question that no one has asked. Did your Mom live with your Aunt? Did you Aunt act as a caregiver for your Mom? Is it possible that your aunt convinced your Mom to leave everything to her and that she would take care of things? You could be looking at Elder abuse. This is a distinct possibility if you and your brother are long distances from where your Mom lived and if your Aunt lived much closed.

 

[adjusterjack]

It's also possible that Mom favored her sister (for whatever reason - age, health, etc) and figured her own children were adults who could take care of themselves.

 

[JynxDouglas]

I honestly was not as worried about me being a beneficiary as I was it either being left blank , as someone mentioned But also I believe possibly it could have been to the guardian of my daughter . My daughter & I lived with my mother and I had found a job about an hour away and moved shortly after . My daughter was in 5th grade and did not want to move so we all decided to let her finish grade school with my mom. At the time I didn’t know that giving my mom guardianship was not necessary. I had no problems with my mother but my mom passed away when my daughter was almost finished with 6th grade. My aunt originally wanted to remove the guardianship but suddenly changed her mind and fought me and lied and slandered me and I believe paid my attorney who I later found out had malpractice suits against him and is now unable to practice law. She won. She now has her home paid off and drives a brand new car with vanity plates that have her initials and my moms initials on them and my daughter has a bank account that my aunt had a stroke about me having knowledge of. What would you think? Not to mention the day my mother died she drove my moms car away and never brought it back. I know now I should’ve had an estate attorney but was too busy fighting her for my child