Catch 22 on Bequest of Personal Property

I am the Executor of my mother's estate in Virginia.

My sister is specifically bequeathed a table in the Will,

along with other personal property and a significant amount of money.

I know she took the table and has it at her home in another state.

The Commissioner of Accounts says that it is my responsibility to recover the item

before I can file the inventory. I have written my sister a letter and then

had a lawyer write her a letter asking if she has the table. She does not respond, and

is otherwise extremely uncooperative (she thinks she should have been the Executor).

I can't recover the table and consequently can't complete the execution of the Will if the Commissioner of Accounts is correct. Why can't I just submit the inventory with a notation that an unsucessful effort was made

to recover the table - why is it an absolute for me to get something I have no hope of retrieving?

What should I do?

Is this table particularly valuable, a special antique or something similar?

You've already had several discussions on this topic.

http://community.lawyers.com/search/SearchResults.aspx?u=268452&o=DateDescending

It's annoying to see it crop up again in a new thread, and against the rules, by the way.

If you haven't figured out what to do about the estate by now, you really do need to hire a probate attorney to advise you.

Well,
I did get an attorney - he wrote a letter and she ignored it, so that $750 did me no good.
The Commissioner of Accounts says I have to recover it or I can't effectuate the Will.
I thought this was supposed to be a helpful website - why bother sending me such an offensive reply?.

Laymans guess:

Seems to me the underlying issue is that executor must properly account for items for tax purposes.

Seems to me that if the theft occurred prior to your formal appointment as executor that the itmes may not have been "recieved" as such by the executor under VA law?

So what is to prevent executor from reporting the items as stolen to appropriate VA law enfocement and names of probably  takers.

If items were stolen and not recieved by Executor I have no clue how or if VA law  requires they be accounted for.

In one sense, if will says Sis gets table and Sis took table, the only remaining "practical" issue is proper valuation of the table?

As a practical matter if one were to attach a reasonable value to the items, might that not be end of it? Yes, I know, that old kitchen chair in the corner might have been one used by Continental Congress in Philadelphia in 1770's and have great value--there was such a case---but is it true here?

Estate inventories and accountings are filed with the commissioner of accounts. The commissioner reviews, audits and approves the inventory and accounts, if acceptable, or declines to approve the filings if not acceptable, filing his or her report with the court.

It is not that you can't file the inventory, it is that the commissioner won't approve it. The judge xcan still approve it.  $750 to draft a letter is too much.  You need a probate lawyer, ask the commissioner for a few recommendations.  Get an atty the commissioner likes.

Your prior lijne of posts said you got all the personal propwerty--this line says Sis gets the table---now which is true?

Did Sis pull a raid or not?

And just how did Commissioner get wind of table unless you waved a big red flag about it?

Is your next letter going to be about how to backcharge your sisters share for the useless $750 letter ?

My sister is bequeathed several items of antique furniture that are specifically described and  all of which I have except for the table. I believe she took the table when my mother was still alive and wont admit that she took it.

When she took the table, she also took other items from my mothers house that are now supposed to belong to me, since I am bequeathed everything that is not specifically mentioned in the Will.

I wrote a letter to the Commissioner asking how I should report the table was missing, and the Commissioner said it was my responsibility to recover the table. I don't know how I can force my sister to hand it over - she is out of state and wont cooperate anyway.

Since the inventory is due soon I guess all I can do is report the table missing, and attach the lawyers letter

that I tried to recover it.

I am also kind of ticked off about not getting my things back - nothing of real value, but family albums, etc that I want.

I hope this helps clarify things.

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

Sorry for the confusion - my sister gets some specific items (including the same table that she already took),

and I get everything else not specifically described. She took some of these things, too.

Yes - she pulled a raid - everytime she visited my mothers house she took something back with her and never asked - as if no one would notice!

I wrote a letter to the Commissioner saying that I was ready to submit the inventory, but couldnt account for

the table - she wrote back and said I needed to get the table back.

And yes, when I file the accounting, I will show that I deducted the amount of the legal fees from what

my sister should have got - worth a try anyway.

I personally think you were nuts to call a missing piece of property to commissioners attention! And I'd lose that $750 letter from formal accounting.

If you never got the table in estate  it wasn't there to account for--or if you assigned it some realistic value its probalby well enough accounted for--for tax purposes.

Stuff Sis raided prior to death may not necessarily be in pot to require accounting--you know she is not about to return that hair reciever she took and you cannot prove she took it . ! 

You are going to make a $2500 problem out of $500 of misc stuff!  Find a way to bury the lose ends!

The table was specifically earmarked in the Will  and as I understand it, in Virginia you need to show proof to the Commissioner at the final accounting that everything in the Will was distributed - this means a signed receipt from my sister that she received all her bequeathed property.

It's straightforward on the stuff I have in my possession, but the table - she's not going to sign a statement that she already stole the table! Maybe I can get her to sign a waiver but since she's such a liar anyway she could just as well file a claim against the estate saying she never got it and wants money for it! That's why I asked the Commissioner what to do.

You are right that spending money like this is foolish. I understood the first $250 consulting fee but honestly had no idea that it would cost $500 (one hour) for a lawyer to write a letter.

I'm not a lawyer and I didn't read VA rules but it sure seems to me you are doing it the hard way!

Its well established that if person gives something away while alive its simply not there for distribution via the estate.  Common example, Car is willed to son but before person passes they sell the car--the car is simply not there to deliver to son and it never comes into executors control either. No car to deliver!

For all you know, Mom could have gifted the table to Sis or the mailman several weeks prior to passing---it simply never became part of the estate you took over to manage..

Now if it and other gifts to Sis exceed $13,000 in that year you may need to account for tax issues but thats another story.

If Mom gifted it early that also should be end of story. True if it was taken after Mom died and you were in charge its your duty to recover it,if its to be recovered, but al least for now that doesn't seem to be the fact pattern and even if it was you have no proof of it was stolen--for that matter you probably don't have any proof it was in home at time mom dies--your post suggest it was gone earlier.

Again, for all you know, Mom make a gift a few weeks before she passed, if Sis asked Mom may I have my table now and Mom said yes,--why take it to some illogical extreme.

So far your quest for technical perfection has cost estate $750 down the drain--not very wise?

I appreciate your perspective on this - looking at it objectively I am certainly making it hard on myself.

However, while my mother was dying in an nursing home my sister looted all the sentimental items from my mothers house (including a box of my mother's old love letters). She caused my mother great emotional stress in doing this, but my mother was too weak to complain. Now I have a chance to at least let my sister know that I know she is a thief and cause her to squirm a little (I will be filing a police report as well). From that perspective my $750 (which the Estate pays so it's $375 out of my pocket which is steep but probably worth it to me.

I understand your emotional hurt--but I'm not sure there are any good cures for that here on earth and you may be adding to your problems with fruitless quests .

My guess is if you file a police report the police will either punt or merely take it and file if in old box--to them its a civil matter--and if Sis is in a separate state nothing will happen. You probably cannot prove Sis took it and you cannot prove Mom didn't give "permission" and to openly accuse Sis of a crime you cannot prove could get you into libel/slander turf.

If Mom had a homeowners policy and thefts are covered, you could file such a claim--but the insurance firm will likley punt as well.