What Happens When a Beneficiary Doesn’t Respond to the Probate Case?

When someone passes away, and leaves an inheritance, we have this image of all the beneficiaries–the people who stand to inherit something through the probate case or the will–as lining up, fighting for their piece of the pie, anxious to get ahold of whatever has been left for them.

When a Beneficiary Doesn’t Respond

But that’s not always how it happens. Sometimes, a beneficiary either cannot be found or the beneficiary is found and notified by the probate court, and doesn’t respond.

Perhaps the beneficiary has passed away. Perhaps he or she doesn’t want the inheritance for personal reasons. Whatever the reason, what happens in the probate case, when a beneficiary simply doesn’t respond to the notice provided to him or her in the probate case?

Problems When a Beneficiary is Not Responsive

To administer an estate in probate court, all of the beneficiaries need to be involved. They do not have to go to court, but there are times when all beneficiaries need to sign documents or agree to decisions. When one possible beneficiary is AWOL, and unresponsive, that can hold things up for all beneficiaries.

Once the court learns that a beneficiary is not responding or can’t be found, the court will likely order other means to be used to find the beneficiary. This might be a private investigator or the use of a service to find the beneficiary.

Either way, it adds not just time, but expense which all beneficiaries will end up paying for because the estate must pay these expenses before any distribution.

Furthermore, in most cases, no beneficiary can receive any inheritance, until and unless all beneficiaries agree and approve of the proposed distribution. When a beneficiary cannot be found, this can hold up distribution to the beneficiaries who are there.

There is also the risk to all beneficiaries that the unresponsive beneficiary might at some point wake up and challenge the estate, although that would be a very difficult case.

Planning Ahead

This is one reason why, when doing your estate planning, it’s worth reaching out to people to make sure that they want what they are possibly inheriting in the future. Don’t assume they do. For example, some people on government programs may fear losing benefits with an inheritance.

Getting Court Help

In cases where the beneficiary is alive and we know where he or she is, but the beneficiary is refusing service, the court might also be able to approve other ways of serving the beneficiary, other than by a standard process server or by mail.

During the probate case, if a beneficiary cannot be located or is unresponsive, your probate attorney may be able to petition the court and ask it to distribute to the beneficiaries who are there and can be found, holding back the unresponsive beneficiaries’ share, until he or she can be located.

This is especially true where the court feels that a beneficiary has been notified, but is purposely ignoring the notifications.

Problems in your probate case? Call the West Palm Beach probate law attorneys at The Law Offices of Larry E. Bray today.

Source:

leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0700-0799/0736/Sections/0736.1008.html