Could use some help...bout my dead dad's money

To cut a long story short my dad kicked it early december. I am the only one in line to become the administrator of his assets. My brother is in the army so it falls on me if i want the responsibility. I probably will become the administrator, which puts me in the responsibility of everything he owned and money he had in stocks. I was wandering if any one knows anything about stocks, and how i would go about finding out the balance of shares held. Is the only way to go through a lawyer? I would really appreciate the help any one could give. Does anyone by any chance know property value for a two story house inwest virginia with an acre and a half? Yeah i know its vague, but my research has come up with squat. I know there is money to be had, if a certain someone hasnt already obtained it fraudulently.

i think to avoid an attorney with so much at stake would be foolish, especially since you suspect foul play from a "certain someone"

better to get screwed out of some money for a lawyer's fee then get screwed out of all of it.

For the house value call someone that sells real estate in your area to get an estimate I guess. And for your dads assets talking to his lawyer is the only way i guess, or maybe talk to his bank?

i know a good bit about stocks.. your dad would of had to have some sort of investment company he went through.. once you find that out you would be able to find out anything and everything about his stocks online.. im sure he has to have some sort of folder with that kind of info around somewhere because anyone who does it seriously has to keep track of it

Ask around for a good lawyer.

NO LAWYER to manage them!

They are meant to send you correspondence on the profit of your shares.
+ may companies have been adopting an e-mail notifying system that should be regularly (eg. - quarterly) sending you the status of the shares. They do this with common mail as well.

But by the looks of it your problem lies in the fact that your address is not the same as your dads. so you wont be recieving any correspondence. If your father is dead, do you know what has he signed at the Notary's office ? are you really in-line as per the will ?

If so it is the Notary that will make the arrangemnets for you NOT an attorney .......altough i am not familiar if thats what you call them in the states

Sorry to hear about your father.

Originally posted by Capt_Fantastic
Sorry to hear about your father.

was wondering when someone was going to say that, my condolences go to you also.

unfortunatly i know nothing about stocks or the world of finance

Originally posted by GCG
NO LAWYER to manage them!

They are meant to send you correspondence on the profit of your shares.
+ may companies have been adopting an e-mail notifying system that should be regularly (eg. - quarterly) sending you the status of the shares. They do this with common mail as well.

But by the looks of it your problem lies in the fact that your address is not the same as your dads. so you wont be recieving any correspondence. If your father is dead, do you know what has he signed at the Notary's office ? are you really in-line as per the will ?

If so it is the Notary that will make the arrangemnets for you NOT an attorney .......altough i am not familiar if thats what you call them in the states

See the problem is that there was no will. I know in west virginia that the children superceed state if they were not married. I was told that if i decided to become the administrator then all assets would go to my brother and i. I have a statement from Vangaurd, the company he had stock in. the statment has much information on it stating that the market value of his shares are worth fifty thousand and change. I also found that he had stock in trusted to me. Now seeing that he was the custodian of the intrusted stock, and he is dead ,will i have to go through a lawyer to sell the stock, or can i do that since it was intrusted? I know i will probably have to seek legal help to sell his other stocks.

Is there a way i can check them online? i read that some one said that. I cant afford a lawyer, but if i can prove that he has substantial money then i may be able to find an attorney to take a lean on the stock or estate. I appreciate the feedback. I am a bit of a pickle here. It's going on three months and no action has been taken i dont want the state to step in. his girlfreind got his 70 thousand dollar life insurance, and i got stuck with his funeral bill. so far all i have from my dad is a porno mag and a blanket...life sure is funny some times

Originally posted by ChickinMeat
was wondering when someone was going to say that, my condolences go to you also.

unfortunatly i know nothing about stocks or the world of finance

Appreciate that, but he was an ass. a decent ass though, when he wasnt drunk.

Originally posted by ragesRemorse
Appreciate that, but he was an ass. a decent ass though, when he wasnt drunk.

You could be speaking of either myself OR my father, but I have found that he still effects me. Not to get off topic. But, like it or not, our parents influence us to become the people we will grow in to, and when they are lost to us, we are left with unanswered questions and concerns that they would have been helpful in assisting us with find the answers. It is a loss, no matter what our personal feelings imply to us.

Originally posted by ragesRemorse
See the problem is that there was no will. I know in west virginia that the children superceed state if they were not married. I was told that if i decided to become the administrator then all assets would go to my brother and i. I have a statement from Vangaurd, the company he had stock in. the statment has much information on it stating that the market value of his shares are worth fifty thousand and change. I also found that he had stock in trusted to me. Now seeing that he was the custodian of the intrusted stock, and he is dead ,will i have to go through a lawyer to sell the stock, or can i do that since it was intrusted? I know i will probably have to seek legal help to sell his other stocks.

Is there a way i can check them online? i read that some one said that. I cant afford a lawyer, but if i can prove that he has substantial money then i may be able to find an attorney to take a lean on the stock or estate. I appreciate the feedback. I am a bit of a pickle here. It's going on three months and no action has been taken i dont want the state to step in. his girlfreind got his 70 thousand dollar life insurance, and i got stuck with his funeral bill. so far all i have from my dad is a porno mag and a blanket...life sure is funny some times

I'm confused as to how, if there was no will, that his girlfriend got anything. I mean, did he name her as the beneficiary? It should have all gone to you and your brother, as his closest living relatives. And you can sell the stocks as soon as you are the rightful owner of them. You might have to share the profits with your brother, but then you at least have made a few bucks. I'd also like to pint out that I'm sure he knew that you guys would get the bulk of his estate. Even if he didn't have a will. The fact that he didn't leave a will giving these assets to someone other than you, implies that he cared about you.

Is it the Vanguard Wellington Fund ?

Do you have a copy of this agreement between the stockholder (your father) and Vanguard ? firstly you will need that. On it there are details if your father such as ID card number, and perhaps an SS number that confirm his identity. secondly you will need your birth certificate alonf with your ID card . These should be sufficient to prove that you are the next in line (the trustee).

If you have a copy of the contract , check for the clauses that may mention on what terms do the conditions apply and on what terms would they release your father as the shareholder. read it carefully. you may not need any attorney or some other form of outside help that will want money in exchange of help.

BTW ask yerssot ; yerssot has been studying law for some time.

I'm sorry to hear that dude and yeah it seems like you're in quite a pickle here. When there's no will left behind it's hard to determine the rightful owners of the estate and who gets what. The fact that you say the girlfriend already took 70 grand means that it looks as if you might not be entitled to certain things even tho you're the son and should be, logically the rightful owner. I would caution to take some immediate action if possible, you never know who else might try to get a piece by challenging ownership of the estate and staking all sorts of ridiculous claims, not to mention after some time it may become a matter of the state.

Anyway, I think some form of legal advice in this case is imperative. If you can't afford a lawyer, I suggest trying the following website...
http://freeadvice.com/

It's a free legal advice source for almost any legal matter you can think of. You can research a topic or post your question in a forum and wait for a lawyer to respond or you can just send it directly to a lawyer and see what they think about it, you may even find someone that's local to you that may want to take the case for a reasonable fee. I've used it before once myself when I wanted to sue over something but I ended finding out that it just wasn't worth it and that I would prob lose the case anyway.

Anyway, hope it helps and sorry I can't be of more help myself.

Originally posted by ragesRemorse
See the problem is that there was no will. I know in west virginia that the children superceed state if they were not married. I was told that if i decided to become the administrator then all assets would go to my brother and i. I have a statement from Vangaurd, the company he had stock in. the statment has much information on it stating that the market value of his shares are worth fifty thousand and change. I also found that he had stock in trusted to me. Now seeing that he was the custodian of the intrusted stock, and he is dead ,will i have to go through a lawyer to sell the stock, or can i do that since it was intrusted? I know i will probably have to seek legal help to sell his other stocks.

Is there a way i can check them online? i read that some one said that. I cant afford a lawyer, but if i can prove that he has substantial money then i may be able to find an attorney to take a lean on the stock or estate. I appreciate the feedback. I am a bit of a pickle here. It's going on three months and no action has been taken i dont want the state to step in. his girlfreind got his 70 thousand dollar life insurance, and i got stuck with his funeral bill. so far all i have from my dad is a porno mag and a blanket...life sure is funny some times

lawyers have nothing to do with selling the stock... talk to vangaurd, if you are incharge of his assets and estate then you can do whatever you want with his stocks.. selling them may not be the best idea unless you just dont wanna worry about them.. (I majored in finance/pre law so i know a decent bit)

PM me if you have any specific questions about the stock stuff

I wanted to thank everyone for the info. It's been rather helpfelul Earlier today i got in touch with some representitives from the companies my dad had stock in. It turns out that he had put his girlfriend as benificiary. So this ***** has nearly 60 thousand dollars worth of stock now aswell as the 70 grand in life insurance. I found out that i am fully intitled to the stock intrusted to me, i just have to get a medalion stamp and i will have stocks worth 15 grand which will cover the funeral, and his debts. I should have enough left over to buy a coke. Yeah, i know no one really wanted to know this, but i wanted to thank everyone.

Wow, that really sucks dude. 😖 Oh well at least you get to have a coke and a smile coke

Sorry, couldn't really think of anything better to say.ermm