Wills and Estates

A conservator and a guardian were in control at my mothers time of death. There was a will; the original was misplaced but court visitor placed copy in Estate court case. They did not use the will my mother made, and they have not dispersed the personal property of my mothers. All was to be split between my brother and myself. Now they have closed the estate with notice I cannot prosecute anyone involved in the court case in County District court. I want to inform the court of what they have done, but a magistrate took over and will not acknowledge me anymore. I was a legal invener, and was first trustee or what ever you call the person in charge of distributing her estate.

We have a Revocable Living Trust Agreement and a Will that we states the Trustee is to distribute property as stated on a seperate, dated writing, in existence at the time of death. We believe wishes are not being carried out according to this writing but we have not seen a copy of said writing. Don't these records become public after death? There is also a clause in the will that states if anyone contest the will they will receive the sum of one dollar, and only one dollar. If we challenge the fact that things are not being followed correctly, this is not actually contesting, it is making sure that they are being followed exactly, correct? Is there usually a formal reading of Living Trusts and Wills? How would we make one happen if not? Would we have to employ our attorney to make sure the will is being followed correctly? We just want to make sure that the deceased wishes are being followed, the way she wanted them followed.

We filled out our Wills for married couples with adult children. Upon our death, can our children get our money from our bank checking accounts with just the Wills, or do they have to be beneficiarys on the bank accounts to get our money? Our bank said they must be put on as beneficiarys, is this true, or which is true? Or do we need to fill out Power of Attorney for this?

My dad died in a care facility here in Fresno in January. We had prepaid his $5,400 monthly bill and he died 3 days later. After our repeated requests for a refund, they responded with an amount that we considered fair. Now, 5 months later, we have been billed an additional $500. They are claiming they overlooked some charges and therefore they refunded too much money. Are we obligated to pay this? If so, what is to keep them from doing this again? If it turns out that we owe them, what is the minimum dollar amount we can send them monthly?

I own a house that is paid off. My father is still on the property title and he passed away 03/11/2007. In the living trust he had put me as the trustor but never put joint tenancy. How do I take his name off without going through the courts?