E205 A DIY Probate Story: 4 Years Wasted

<p>This is “Sam’s” cautionary tale of trying to DIY his dad’s estate over four years, with zero progress. I like to call this a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisyphus" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sisyphus story</a>. Sisyphus was a figure from Greek mythology whose punishment for eternity was to push a heavy stone up a hill, but right when he would get to the top, the stone would come sliding back down to the bottom for him to start over again for all eternity. That is what Sam has felt like for the past four years.</p> <h2>Sam’s story</h2> <p><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-9497" src= "https://anthonyspark.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Sams-story-300x225.jpg" alt="Sam’s story" width="300" height="225" /></p> <p>Sam’s dad died years ago in Europe, and Sam had court hearings in European probate courts where they were declared Sam and his siblings the heirs. But in Europe the probate process is much different than New York and the U.S., as there are no actual executors; the court just declares who are the heirs.</p> <p>A couple of years later, <a href= "https://anthonyspark.com/how-to-collect-the-us-bank-account-of-a-deceased-foreigner/"> the heirs discovered a U.S. bank account that they wanted to collect</a>. Sam spent the next four years following bank instructions into a black hole. The bank would tell him to do one thing which led to months of playing liaison with the European courts and the U.S., only to be told that it was the wrong information. Each time this happened, Sam had to start all over again.</p> <p>Finally, Sam called us, and we realized that we needed to start from scratch. Even after hiring us, Sam kept talking to the bank, which created more problems, mixed signals, and cross information.</p> <h2>Common Probate Mistakes</h2> <p><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-9498" src= "https://anthonyspark.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Common-Probate-Mistakes-300x209.jpg" alt="Common Probate Mistakes" width="300" height="209" /></p> <p>The first common probate mistake is