A family member is the executor of my mother's estate. She died three years ago. As far as I can tell there has been no effort to distribute assets, although that family member has many of her belongings on display at their home. Is there a time limit on settling estates?
Before hiring a lawyer, talk to probate. If u find no Will has been filed, ask what can be done. If filed and not probated yet again ask what can be done. They may direct u to a lawyer.
Some states are more complicated than others. For instance, assets must be gathered, and they might include real estate in several states. The real estate might need to be sold in order to meet the terms of the will; i.e. cash is needed for bequests to beneficiaries. That's a huge job and can't be done in six weeks! There might be a trust whose terms need to be dealt with. Or sometimes, there's an incompetent executor who wasn't incompetent when appointed but is now. (Review your estate plans, folks.)
If you're a beneficiary, you should take into account what needs to be done by the executor to settle the estate. For instance, if you get antsy-pantsy, and you start suing the estate or executors, the suit can deplete the estate itself as executors must then defend the estate and themselves in court. The estate would pay for that. It could end up affecting your inheritance in a negative way.
The best thing is to consult an estate attorney.
To me there is no benefit for anyone in dragging out handling the estate. I worried about a break in or damage in the few months we still had his home.
I am glad I dealt with it all quickly. Because now 15 mos after his death, I’m dealing with my estranged mother. Getting POA for her, and prepping for her neck surgery. I think I’d be near breakdown if I was still doing my executor stuff for my dad.
There were 4 beneficiaries, no contested claims.
My one Aunt died in late January and I'm the executor (named in her Will). Her sister is the beneficiary of most of her estate. Just today I finally got a call from the case manager for her pension (and he said my surving Aunt will be contacted as soon as they can verify that she is indeed the actual beneficiary). This alone took 2-1/2 months. The rest of her estate went to probate at the beginning of February (in FL). I have no idea how long that process will take... she didn't have complicated assets. Complication + attorney speed + court clog = timeline?
This question comes up on Handel on the Law ALL THE TIME and he always suggests that if you are a beneficiary and there is no notification and no timely distribution to yourself and other heirs you should retain your own Trust and Estate attorney. That attorney can easily check everything out especially if you know the Trust and Estate Attorney or probate attorney assisting the executor.
You, yourself, can check public records to see if probate is filed. If this is a Trust, of course, no papers are filed in court or public records.