Can You Transfer an Estate to Another State

[Wyoguy]

My question involves estate proceedings in the state of: NY and Wyoming

Over a year ago my wifes father passed away. They were not very close but she was for sure in it. The orig attorney we think was stealing from the will because as soon as we hired another attorney to look it over he vanished. Since then we have hired 4 different attorneys both here and there and it never gets anywhere. They work on it for a couple weeks then vanish or tell us they dont want to do it. My main concern is letting NY know we are around and trying to get things figured out because other people in her family are trying to take what was left to us. We have called the courts almost everyday and keep being told we need to talk to one guy who is never there and never calls us back. We have also been in contact with DA in New York which so far is a dead end. There are only a handfull of attorneys in Wyoming that deal with this kind of stuff and we have talked to them all and most wont deal with it or dont call us back. We have been having just as much trouble with attorneys in New York. I just paid an attorney $500 to figure everything out and file papers and after 4 weeks he emailed saying he couldn't do it and was sending money back!!

What steps should we take to get this going and protect our inheritance until we get everything figured out?
Whats the process of getting it transferred?
Is there anything we can file to get this transfer started or let the court know we are working on it and have not collected anything.

We found out my wife was supposed to be collecting mineral rights and $500k before she turned 21 and never saw a penny. The orig attorney said she didnt get anything till after 21. We know something is very wrong but cant seem to find anyone to take the case and dont know who to talk to or what to file.

[harrylime]

Where did the father live?

Where is his property located?

Has probate been opened?

[Wyoguy]

He had houses in at least 8 states and not totally sure what sate he called home since he was never in one place long.

He owns 20 thousand acres and 2 houses here in Wyoming, a couple houses in FL, one in Alaska, one in Colorado, and has 9 businesses in different states, time shares in other countries, and at least 4 other houses scattered around the U.S.

We know her brothers collected some stuff here in Wyoming after their part of the will was transferred here but that attorney wont call us back. Someone in NY said that the case was opened but then closed months ago and cant tell us if everything was wiped out or whats going on.

Everything we were told by the first attorney is proving to be wrong so we are very worried about fraud here. Her father was a billionaire.

[Mr. Knowitall]

The estate would normally be brought in the state (and county) in which the decedent was domiciled at the time of death. Odds are that would be the address to which he received bills, that was on his driver's license, etc.

If we're talking about a billionaire's estate, it should go without saying that the administrator should be utilizing a top drawer law firm to resolve these issues and to recover any money that may have been misappropriated or mishandled.

[Wyoguy]

The estate would normally be brought in the state (and county) in which the decedent was domiciled at the time of death. Odds are that would be the address to which he received bills, that was on his driver's license, etc.

If we're talking about a billionaire's estate, it should go without saying that the administrator should be utilizing a top drawer law firm to resolve these issues and to recover any money that may have been misappropriated or mishandled.

Thats the issues we cant get a copy of his DL. He died in a car accident in Utah driving a truck with temp tags and they cant/wont tell us where his DL was from. Every time we call for information we are told to talk to someone who is never there or calls us back.

I know NOTHING about this process but i do know the will was filed in New York which is where the first attorney was from. The only person in the will that her dad trusted was her older brother, which the attorney told us passed away but we are trying to figure out how to confirm. He lived in California and worked a LAX. How can we find out more about him?

Two of her other brothers had the will transferred from New York to Wyoming and collected.

Is there anything we can file in New York to let someone know we exist?

[Mr. Knowitall]

If your wife is the administrator of the estate and has been hiring various law firms to represent the estate, and litigation has been pending for more than a year, it is not credible that she would lack basic information about the decedent such as his place of domicile at the time of death, or that she could not easily obtain that type of information.

The statement, "Two of her other brothers had the will transferred from New York to Wyoming and collected", is so devoid of context as to be meaningless. If you are claiming that probate proceedings are already occurring in two different states, with neither court aware of or coordinating with the other, your wife as administrator needs to make sure that conflict is resolved.

Again, you claim to be talking about a gargantuan estate, so tell your wife to hire a competent law firm to get things resolved. Billion dollar estates are not appropriately handled via a third party's questions posted to an online forum.

[Wyoguy]

If your wife is the administrator of the estate and has been hiring various law firms to represent the estate, and litigation has been pending for more than a year, it is not credible that she would lack basic information about the decedent such as his place of domicile at the time of death, or that she could not easily obtain that type of information.

The statement, "Two of her other brothers had the will transferred from New York to Wyoming and collected", is so devoid of context as to be meaningless. If you are claiming that probate proceedings are already occurring in two different states, with neither court aware of or coordinating with the other, your wife as administrator needs to make sure that conflict is resolved.

Again, you claim to be talking about a gargantuan estate, so tell your wife to hire a competent law firm to get things resolved. Billion dollar estates are not appropriately handled via a third party's questions posted to an online forum.

Im not asking you to figure out the will Im simply asking where to go from here. We cant afford a top notch attorney unless you would like to pay for it lol.
We just talked to our attorney he got paperwork from NY stating someone filed in her name last April. He is now dropping our case until we have someone investigate it, but he couldn't tell us who.
The way everyone has explained this to us is that different people in the will can have their parts of it transferred wherever they live. When people hear how much is involved and that there could be fraud they want A LOT of money or don't want to touch it. Her brothers were close to her dad where she was not because she lived with her mom who remarried and her step dad did everything in his power to keep them apart including telling her he died many years ago. Also her and her brothers do not get along or talk. Finding out information has been hard since usually when we call somewhere they try to pass us up the chain of command.

ALL Im asking is who to call (besides an attorney we cant afford) to figure out this information that is so easy to obtain.

[harrylime]

I would suggest hiring a private investigator.

The way everyone has explained this to us is that different people in the will can have their parts of it transferred wherever they live.

Who is "everyone?" Primary probate takes place where the deceased was domiciled. If there is real property located in other states, ancillary probate is opened in those states.

...stating someone filed in her name last April.

Someone? Who?

Filed in her name? Filed what?

...when we call somewhere they try to pass us up the chain of command.

Somewhere? Where?

Then go up the chain of command.

[aaron]

The administrator of an estate can retain an attorney to assist with legal issues, paid out of estate funds. For a $billion estate, an administrator would have no problem getting top notch legal assistance.

[Wyoguy]

I would suggest hiring a private investigator.


Who is "everyone?" Primary probate takes place where the deceased was domiciled. If there is real property located in other states, ancillary probate is opened in those states.


Someone? Who?

Filed in her name? Filed what?


Somewhere? Where?

Then go up the chain of command.

New York court houses, New York DA, New York attorney general, Utah Highway patrol, Denver Hospital where he was flown to. Dont know who else to contact which is what im asking here.

The administrator of an estate can retain an attorney to assist with legal issues, paid out of estate funds. For a $billion estate, an administrator would have no problem getting top notch legal assistance.

We DO NOT get along with anyone else in her family except on brother who we were told passed away. Last April somebody filed in NY in my wifes name with the will and MAY 6 here in WY 3 brothers and someone outside of the family collected. We are assuming the attorney that was working with us has taken our share or some other kind of fraud has gone on. NO attorney will touch this without a TON of money unless we find out everything about her dad on our own. We did not collect the whole billion, We know we were supposed to get the land, mineral rights (oil, gold, uranium) properties and some houses. What im telling you is what we know. The original attorney who was "helping" us threatened to call police for harassment and quit returning phone calls when we hired a second attorney to look into things. He had copies of all her information. We have now hired 5 different attorneys here and in NY and all have walked away from the case because they think there is fraud and dont want to touch something this big. The bigger law firms who would help us want us to track down all of her dads information before they do ANYTHING... We dont know what sate he actually lived in and cant figure out how to find this out without a copy of his DL which Utah has somewhere but wont call us back. NOBODY will take this on now and get paid from the estate because we dont know if anything is left.

How can i get information such as where someones DL is from, birth certificate, SSN, or whatever else i need for a death certificate?

We were told only part of the will was transferred from NY to WY, is this possible?

Who should we call in NY or here to let them know something is very wrong?

PLEASE dont come back and tell me to hire an attorney (unless you have someone you can recommend) or that it does not sound right because if it was as simple as every other case then we wouldn't be here.