Post by Mfitz804 on Jul 6, 2020 23:01:01 GMT -5
It’s been hanging around our office for ELEVEN years.
Back in 2009, I worked for a father and daughter. His older brother, also an attorney, retired and had his files and phone number moved over to our office. Any of his clients who called, if we took the case, he got a cut.
His client came to us looking to make a claim against his brother’s Estate. Approximately $160,000 was owed. Now, to make a claim against an Estate, you have to have a certain level of proof. I took one look at the evidence provided and immediately came to the conclusion that it was not sufficient and the claim could not be sustained. Boss’s brother said don’t worry, they will definitely settle it, easy money.
Now, in order to make a claim against the Estate, a representative has to be appointed. The deceased’s daughter made the application, and immediately her brother and some other family members (but not my clients) objected. Now the Estate was a contested Estate. It took over TWO YEARS for the parties agree to have the daughter appointed as the Administrator on a temporary basis.
The law in NY requires that the claim be made within a certain amount of time from the issuance of Letters of Administration, which includes a Temporary Letters. I had already been waiting for two years, so I did not hesitate. I filed the our claim the very next day after the Temporary Administrator was appointed.
The Administrator has a certain time to approve a claim, failure to do so means it is rejected, and that means you’ll have a trial. The time period passed and I knew we were in for it.
But, the Temporary Letters didn’t even permit the Administrator to settle claims, because the Contest was still being made by the family. So before I could even discuss that, I had to wait until the contest was finished.
Problem with that is, I am a creditor with a rejected claim. Nobody has a duty to tell me when it happens. And the only way to check is to go to the Courthouse and check the file. So, I started periodically checking the file. Weekly, monthly, whenever I remembered. Nothing.
I started having issues. How long has it been since I last checked? What if they issued the Letters, distributed all of the money, and left my client with nowhere to recover? Sure, the Administrator would be in trouble, but would I be able to recover anything?
Multiple times I would wake up in the middle of the night and realize it had been a few weeks since I checked, and I would freak out, go to Court, check the file and nothing. Also wound up happening when I would get back from vacation. Always nothing. There were still papers being filed back and forth as to who should be the Administrator, but as a creditor, none of that mattered. I didn’t care who the Administrator was, anyone would do. As an aside, if it was someone other than the person who rejected my claim, maybe they would negotiate with me. So I hoped someone else would get it.
In the meantime, my boss’s brother passed away. All the while, I had been telling the client all of the problems with his evidence. He refused to believe me, said he trusted the old man (which is what he called him), and refused to settle for anything but the full $160,000, plus interest, plus attorneys’ fees. I was able to explain to him that there was no entitlement to attorneys’ fees in this type of case, but the $160k plus the interest, that he was sure he would get.
2018, my one boss passed away. Now his daughter was in charge. She made getting rid of this case her personal mission.
Fast forward to November 2019, now over ten years since we got the case. We come to learn that the parties entered into a settlement over who would be Administrator, and ALL claims except for ours. As it looked like we were being sandbagged (as I had been trying to avoid for 10 years), I immediately filed a petition requesting a trial on our claims, and requesting that the Administrator post a bond with the Court, so I could be assured there was money to pay.
The Administrator had no cash left, but had two houses left to sell. Their value would cover our full claim, so we agreed to accept them filing a document with the Court prohibiting the sale until our claim was decided.
Finally, I could relax. Our claim was in, a trial would be scheduled, and we’d finally have our end.
There was, of course, still the issue of our having zero viable evidence to prove our claims.
After negotiation, we were offered $15,000 to go away. As far as we were concerned, it was charity. Although he resisted a lot, we finally got the client to agree and the matter has been put to rest just over of eleven years from when we got it. This was by far the longest case we’ve had. The next closest was 8 years, but that included four years lost to two bankruptcy stays and the death of one of the Defendants, plus a full jury trial.
Worst part? The old man agreed to accept the case on a 1/3 contingency. The remaining boss agreed with the client to reduce it to 25% since he didn’t get the result he wanted.
So we worked for 11 years for a total of $3,750. Easy money.
Back in 2009, I worked for a father and daughter. His older brother, also an attorney, retired and had his files and phone number moved over to our office. Any of his clients who called, if we took the case, he got a cut.
His client came to us looking to make a claim against his brother’s Estate. Approximately $160,000 was owed. Now, to make a claim against an Estate, you have to have a certain level of proof. I took one look at the evidence provided and immediately came to the conclusion that it was not sufficient and the claim could not be sustained. Boss’s brother said don’t worry, they will definitely settle it, easy money.
Now, in order to make a claim against the Estate, a representative has to be appointed. The deceased’s daughter made the application, and immediately her brother and some other family members (but not my clients) objected. Now the Estate was a contested Estate. It took over TWO YEARS for the parties agree to have the daughter appointed as the Administrator on a temporary basis.
The law in NY requires that the claim be made within a certain amount of time from the issuance of Letters of Administration, which includes a Temporary Letters. I had already been waiting for two years, so I did not hesitate. I filed the our claim the very next day after the Temporary Administrator was appointed.
The Administrator has a certain time to approve a claim, failure to do so means it is rejected, and that means you’ll have a trial. The time period passed and I knew we were in for it.
But, the Temporary Letters didn’t even permit the Administrator to settle claims, because the Contest was still being made by the family. So before I could even discuss that, I had to wait until the contest was finished.
Problem with that is, I am a creditor with a rejected claim. Nobody has a duty to tell me when it happens. And the only way to check is to go to the Courthouse and check the file. So, I started periodically checking the file. Weekly, monthly, whenever I remembered. Nothing.
I started having issues. How long has it been since I last checked? What if they issued the Letters, distributed all of the money, and left my client with nowhere to recover? Sure, the Administrator would be in trouble, but would I be able to recover anything?
Multiple times I would wake up in the middle of the night and realize it had been a few weeks since I checked, and I would freak out, go to Court, check the file and nothing. Also wound up happening when I would get back from vacation. Always nothing. There were still papers being filed back and forth as to who should be the Administrator, but as a creditor, none of that mattered. I didn’t care who the Administrator was, anyone would do. As an aside, if it was someone other than the person who rejected my claim, maybe they would negotiate with me. So I hoped someone else would get it.
In the meantime, my boss’s brother passed away. All the while, I had been telling the client all of the problems with his evidence. He refused to believe me, said he trusted the old man (which is what he called him), and refused to settle for anything but the full $160,000, plus interest, plus attorneys’ fees. I was able to explain to him that there was no entitlement to attorneys’ fees in this type of case, but the $160k plus the interest, that he was sure he would get.
2018, my one boss passed away. Now his daughter was in charge. She made getting rid of this case her personal mission.
Fast forward to November 2019, now over ten years since we got the case. We come to learn that the parties entered into a settlement over who would be Administrator, and ALL claims except for ours. As it looked like we were being sandbagged (as I had been trying to avoid for 10 years), I immediately filed a petition requesting a trial on our claims, and requesting that the Administrator post a bond with the Court, so I could be assured there was money to pay.
The Administrator had no cash left, but had two houses left to sell. Their value would cover our full claim, so we agreed to accept them filing a document with the Court prohibiting the sale until our claim was decided.
Finally, I could relax. Our claim was in, a trial would be scheduled, and we’d finally have our end.
There was, of course, still the issue of our having zero viable evidence to prove our claims.
After negotiation, we were offered $15,000 to go away. As far as we were concerned, it was charity. Although he resisted a lot, we finally got the client to agree and the matter has been put to rest just over of eleven years from when we got it. This was by far the longest case we’ve had. The next closest was 8 years, but that included four years lost to two bankruptcy stays and the death of one of the Defendants, plus a full jury trial.
Worst part? The old man agreed to accept the case on a 1/3 contingency. The remaining boss agreed with the client to reduce it to 25% since he didn’t get the result he wanted.
So we worked for 11 years for a total of $3,750. Easy money.
