Still looking for an attorney

I'm still trying to find an attorney to help me on a contingency basis for a law suit against my brother and sister. I have been reading some of the posts and they mention the estate being closed, how do I know if it is? I haven't been informed of anything including the fact my mother died. I found that out 6 months later on my own. So how do I find out what they are doing with her estate? hasn't my sister and brother as trustee and executor broken the law by not notifing me of what is going on and where all the money went and all her assets went. Didn't they break the law by keeping all the estate and not distributing it as my mother requested in her will?

Not sure where you got the idea that there is a law requiring whomever the executor of the will is to be accountable to everyone in the family. Generally a notice is placed in the local paper so creditors can come forward to file a claim against the estate. If they followed local laws (usually the court itself files the notice), then you cannot sue them for not calling you and telling you.

No, the will does not have to be followed----many people think it is an iron clad document, but the truth is, the court and the executor DO have the discretion to distribute assets as they see fit. Of course, the executor of the wil DOES have to account to the court and give a detailed list of the assets (when the estate is opened), their value, and how they are distributed (at the end of the time period, usually a year but you can petition the court for longer if necessary). If you don't know if the estate is closed, simply call the court, identify yourself and ask. They can tell you.

Bottom line--if no one else expresses an interest in the assets, and as long as they have distributed the assets in a manner in which the court approves, there is little you can do. Perhaps the court assumes that those who are close enough to the deceased to know if their passing are the ones who have the most right to the estate---and in the absence of any other person, how would they know differently?

If the estate is still opened, you can always hire a lawyer and have him or her head to court on your behalf. But, you most assuredly will not find a lawyer who will do this for contingency----there is no promise of payment in the end, so he isn't going to volunteer his time and payment for something that isn't a reasonably sure thing.

Good luck.