Three days after mailing the distribution checks, the belligerent beneficiary made one last gripe. Unfortunately, the belligerent beneficiary made the mistake of contacting my attorney to complain. Since the attorney was under instructions to refuse direct contact from the beneficiaries, the attorney referred the gripe to me. As a result, the effort by the belligerent beneficiary to avoid contact with me failed. Anyway, the attorney informed me by email that the belligerent beneficiary had the following complaints about the distribution:

• The beneficiary didn’t understand why the distribution happened early: that distributing early was against probate rules.
• The beneficiary wanted to know why a final inventory and a final accounting wasn’t provided along with the distribution.
• Since the beneficiary didn’t know about the distribution, the beneficiary felt slighted.

After reading the email, it was obvious to me that the belligerent beneficiary didn’t read the email sent to all beneficiaries about the distribution as mentioned in the article Estate Income Tax Returns: Execute the Plan. At first, I thought it was just an oversight that led to a misunderstanding. However, after further thought, it felt like one last gripe. After claiming the estate broke probate rules and not sending reports, this wasn’t a misunderstanding. To me, it was typical behavior from the belligerent beneficiary displayed throughout the entire administration. So, in reply to the attorney, I assured the attorney that I would handle the complaints appropriately.

Continue reading →