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jockewing

How assets are distributed in probate

jockewing
13 years ago

I am what is called the "independent administrator" of my grandmother's estate. We are in Louisiana. She died about 2 months ago, and we are going through the probate process. Louisiana has what is called "independent administration" where the executor (me) can do alot of the actions needed to wrap up the estate without court approval.

All the debts of the estate have been paid. There are 2 investment accounts, a house, a car, and a bank account. As the independent administrator, I have already paid cash to 2 of the heirs who were left a specific amount in the will, and am in the process of transferring the investment accounts out of my grandmother's name into the names of the heirs. We have signed the petition for possession and the descriptive list, but we still can't file it with the court as there are still a couple of things I need to sign as the independent administrator to finish the investment account transfers.

My question is, why can I not distribute the remaining cash to myself and my brother? The lawyer says we should wait for the judgement, but we need some of the money pretty soon and this is taking forever with the endless paperwork. If I have been able to liquidate investment accounts and pay other heirs out of that same account, why would I not be able to distribute the rest of the cash?

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