What If Heir Refuses To Accept Inheritance Of Money or Item?

Описание: Build your estate plan online! MyAdvocate is the online solution for creating and maintaining your Will and all other legally-valid estate planning documents. Click the link below to get started!

https://www.myadvocate.com/join/paul

--
For prospective law firm clients who want to schedule a free 15 minute initial phone call with Paul Rabalais, go to: https://go.oncehub.com/Paul8

Occasionally, for unfortunate emotional or relationship issues, there is an heir of an estate who refuses to accept either the inheritance of money or the inheritance of a specific item. This can cause the probate or Succession to come to a screaching halt, causing delays and expense for everyone involved.

While it is not uncommon for an heir to formally "disclaim" an inheritance for a variety of reasons, such as income, gift, or estate tax reasons, it is uncommon for someone to fail to communicate even though a small amount of communication could result in a financial windfall for the individual.

Succession law has a procedure to address this. If an heir refuses to accept and sign a receipt for an inheritance of funds, then, after a hearing, the court may order an executor to deposit the funds in either a state or national bank, or in the registry of the court to the credit of the person entitled to the funds. A receipt showing the court that the deposit was made is sufficient to allow the executor to be discharged.

If an heir refuses to receive an item (called in , a "corporeal movable"), then the court may direct the executor to make some other disposition of the item.

It is worth noting that this same thing can happen when a trust beneficiary refuses to accept a distribution of trust principal. While our trust code does not specifically address this issue, it would make sense that these funds sit in a trust account for the benefit of the refusing beneficiary, or perhaps the trustee could petition the proper court for some direction.

This post is for informational purposes only and does not provide legal advice. Please do not act or refrain from acting based on anything you read on this site. Using this site or communicating with Rabalais Estate Planning, LLC, through this site does not form an attorney/client relationship.

Paul Rabalais
Estate Planning Attorney
www.RabalaisEstatePlanning.com
Phone: (225) 329-2450