In some common estates, executors may find themselves in unique situations such as handling found property from a different estate. Early in the estate administration, while sorting through possessions, my Uncle’s stepdaughter found a large, bulky envelope. In the envelope was a blue topaz ring and fifty-four hundred dollars in cash. As the stepdaughter handed me the property, I asked, “Where did you find this?”

The stepdaughter replied, “I found the envelope” – as she looked towards a box – “on top of the box near the stairs.”

So, I quickly went over to the box to sort through the contents. The box contained property and documents associated with the estate of my Uncle’s cousin in which my Uncle served as executor. Apparently, the cash and the ring were the contents of the cousin’s safe deposit box. Moreover, my Uncle forgot to include the property in the cousin’s estate for distribution before closing the estate. So, confused about how to handle the property, I put the matter aside until I could discuss the dilemma with my attorney.

Determining How to Distribute the Found Property

After a few months, in late January 2013, it was time to deal with the found property. During those few months, while reviewing documents related to the cousin’s estate, I found the estate was formed by a holographic will. In the estate, there were three beneficiaries: My Uncle and his two siblings. In addition, each beneficiary was part of my Uncle’s estate. So, my initial thought was to distribute the property according to the cousin’s estate. In other words, finish off the distribution the way my Uncle should have at the time. So, to properly handle the found property, I completed the following tasks:

1. Determined if the ring had any value other than the sentimental value my Aunt had for the ring.
   
2. Discussed my plan to distribute the property with my attorney.

The first task was simple. After visiting several jewelers, they each told me that the damage to the stone was too severe to salvage. The only part worth some value would be the gold metal holding the ring. So, since my Aunt wanted the ring, I would give the ring to her in the distribution.

The next task was to discuss the distribution plan with my attorney. The conversation was very short, but productive. After explaining how I came into possession of the found property, the attorney agreed with my distribution plan. However, my attorney told me to make sure that my Uncle’s portion of the cash goes to the estate. With that, the terms of the distribution were as follows:

1. My Aunt – a beneficiary in my Uncle’s estate – receives the ring and a third of the cash.
2. The other two beneficiaries receive a third of the cash each.

At this point, all that remained was to write the checks.

Distributing the Found Property

The next day, I set out to complete the distribution by depositing the cash into the estate account. After depositing the money, the inventory of assets needed updating to show one-third of the cash added to the estate assets. Finally, I wrote checks for one-third each to the remaining two beneficiaries. After mailing the package to my Aunt, this completed the distribution.  

In the article Finding Forgotten Assets in an Open Estate, I knew dealing with forgotten assets would be possible. However, I never expected to deal with found property from another estate and multiple distributions. At this point, I wondered what other surprises were in store for me.

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