What to do about items missing from inventory in my father’s estate?

Get Legal Help Today

Compare Quotes From Top Companies and Save

secured lock Secured with SHA-256 Encryption

What to do about items missing from inventory in my father’s estate?

I am administrator of my father’s estate. At my father’s wife’s request, we had a professional company inventory my father’s personal property. I was present for the inventory and there were several items missing from the residence. My stepmother is still residing in there. 2 of the items missing were old firearms initially owned by my grandfather. I have pictures of the guns hanging on the wall as of 10 months ago and I have a copy of a household inventory (by the same professional inventory company we are using for the estate) from 10 years ago showing they were in the residence. Now, the guns are gone. My stepmother says my father did something with them as he was worried about the grandkids playing with them. She states she doesn’t know what he did. Do I have any recourse to find these? I am not allowed on the property. The grandkids have all grown up around these guns and my dad never worried about them before. This is not a large estate.

Asked on September 8, 2011 under Estate Planning, Kansas

Answers:

FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 12 years ago | Contributor

If you are the administrator for your father's estate you have a fiduciary obligation to the estate's beneficiaries to account for the missing items in the inventory that you have. The best way to start dealing with the problem is to consult with the attorney (assuming you have one) assisting in the estate's administration on how to deal with the discrepancy and follow his or her suggestions.

My thinking is to file a petition with the court about the problem with documentation showing what was present and what is not present and ask for an order from the court on how to proceed. If you think that your stepmother sold the firearms for her own means, you might consider asking the court to "cite" her to appear before it and answer questions as to these missing assets.

Good luck.


IMPORTANT NOTICE: The Answer(s) provided above are for general information only. The attorney providing the answer was not serving as the attorney for the person submitting the question or in any attorney-client relationship with such person. Laws may vary from state to state, and sometimes change. Tiny variations in the facts, or a fact not set forth in a question, often can change a legal outcome or an attorney's conclusion. Although AttorneyPages.com has verified the attorney was admitted to practice law in at least one jurisdiction, he or she may not be authorized to practice law in the jurisdiction referred to in the question, nor is he or she necessarily experienced in the area of the law involved. Unlike the information in the Answer(s) above, upon which you should NOT rely, for personal advice you can rely upon we suggest you retain an attorney to represent you.

Get Legal Help Today

Find the right lawyer for your legal issue.

secured lock Secured with SHA-256 Encryption