A mess...a will, divorced parents, declined inheritance and my BK. need advice

[justbroke]

(Wow, LadyInTheRed responded right as I posted!) Along what she wrote, regarding the disclaimer by your mother, I wonder if you would be able to do the same thing? It would get complicated and may irritate the Trustee, but that could be available to you.

Otherwise, as we both wrote, if you weren't expecting this money and it doesn't otherwise cause problems... just let the Trustee do their thing. The Trustee may not even do anything.

I do like the exemption question. Did you utilize Federal or State exemptions?

[justbroke]

First, as a person who lost their father as well, I am sorry for your loss.

It is based on when you became entitled to the inheritance. Since a couple of days after (a normal) discharge is well within the 180-day requirement (found in 11 USC 541), then it would be property of the estate. You would need to inform your attorney and your attorney would contact the Trustee. The Trustee will decide whether to re-open the case in order to administer newly discovered assets.

As for the stress... if you don't really care about the money, there is no stress. This does not affect your discharge at all; unless you don't notify your attorney and the Trustee finds out later! In any event, you would not need to do much of anything, other than providing your attorney with the details and the attorney notifying the Trustee. Should the Trustee pursue this, then the Trustee would do most of the legwork.

I would not stress about this, especially if the money was unexpected, and the inheritance appears to be "liquid" cash. I hope you find a little relief provided by my response.

[LadyInTheRed]

Welcome to BKforum.

Unfortunately, the law is that if you become entitled to an inheritance with in 180 days of filing, it is part of the BK estate. If you can't exempt it, the trustee can take it. If your case has been closed, I believe it would have to be reopened in order for the trustee to administer the asset. The trustee could decide it isn't worth the trouble.

I'm not sure when you are considered to become entitled to an inheritance that you received because of a disclaimer. Is it the date of death or the date your mother signs a disclaimer?

Be prepared to give up the inheritance, but don't give up hope that you may get to keep some or all of it. Don't get too stressed. Up until today, you didn't think you were getting anything.

[Icyshades]

Long story short, my dad died and I am not in his will, and to my knowledge, it's been that way for years. I filed a Ch 7 BK last winter, and it was discharged in April '12. My dad passed away a couple days afterwards, unexpectedly.

Today, my mom called to say that even though I was not in his will, that because of the fact that she and he were divorced, that if she doesn't decline her 50% she of his estate, she would have to pay a lot of money as a "non-relative". She said that means that under her state laws, it would mean that we, as the grown kids, would automatically get 20% shares, by her declining her inheritance.

I could find info on the internet that said that because there was less than 180 days between filing and death, that any inheritance that i might have the right to, would normally go to the trustee, but don't know what rules, if any will apply, being that I truthfully said "no" when asked at the 341 if I had any inheritance coming. I know she thinks she is doing the right thing by passing her share onto us kids, but my father was never fair or even with any of us kids, and he had willed his money to the two he thought were struggling the most. I asked if the funds could just be divided among my siblings, but she said the state determines that it gets divided equally between all siblings as soon as she rejects her share. My family isn't close, but my guess is that we would each be getting less than $5k. Right now, we are passed the 180 days since my filing and subsequent dismissal.

My BK attorney is on vacation, and this is going to stress me until he returns! The whole situation is twisted, and I don't know what rules apply. Thoughts? Just when I thought the BK had relieved me of life's stresses, this pops up!