View Full Version : Legal advice?
Who better to ask than you guys? Lol.
I may need an attorney to look into a company that my dad was involved in and that my brothers and I are legally entitled to his share of.
Anyway, the company and any court proceedings that may be necessary are in Texas.
Can an attorney from Colorado help me or do I need to reach out to one in Texas?
Also, should I be looking for an estate attorney or someone with corporate law experience.
Thanks for any thoughts or opinions.
What part of Texas?
A Colorado attorney needs to be licensed to practice in Texas, otherwise the best he can do is evaluate your case and draft a letter... which may be all you need.
Estate attorney should be fine if all you want to do is liquidate his shares.
Estate attorney should be fine if all you want to do is liquidate his shares.
I don?t even know if there are technically any shares. I think it is more of a partnership. The person in charge of distributing funds to the partners has been unwilling to explain the structure of the partnership or when, why, or how the funds are distributed or pretty much anything about what it is that my brothers and I inherited. The accountant kept reaching out to us wanting our personal information (including SSN) so that she could start distributing funds to us. I pretty much told her that until someone provides me with some sort of documentation as to what it is that I am getting myself into that they can just continue to make payments to ?the estate of? my father.
I retained a lawyer in the area in order to try and get information about the partnership but so far they took my money and have pretty much ghosted me so I may end up having to sue them in order to get my retainer back.
Looking like I might have to search out better lawyers in the Houston area and fork over more money to try and get this resolved.
Just my SWAG here:
Yes, find an Attorney...........in Texas.
You have several issues..........
Look thru your Fathers papers and see if you can find any papers related to it?
Look at your Fathers Tax returns to see what his portion was? Or even a Bank Statement?
Get a certified copy of his will outlining what/how his estate is being distributed.......... (ie thats your legal means of proving you are entitled to this company share or whatever it is).
Who is the Executor or Legal Representative of his Estate? His will or Colorado law should spell that out. (hopefully you are).
Then the Executor, and with Will/ Death Cert in hand, should approach the Companies legal dept and press the issue to find out exactly what your Fathers role was in the Company.
Then set it up in accordance with your Fathers will.
BTW............ Sorry for your loss. I'm working thru something similar myself........... thus my suggestions.
I guess I should have mentioned he didn?t have a will. Without a will, anything that was his automatically goes to next of kin which is me and my brothers. One of my brothers is the executor of his estate. We picked him because he lives in Texas.
Great-Kazoo
09-02-2023, 07:28
I guess I should have mentioned he didn?t have a will. Without a will, anything that was his automatically goes to next of kin which is me and my brothers. One of my brothers is the executor of his estate. We picked him because he lives in Texas.
Better check on that, usually with no will, it goes to probate. Sadly it's a common, too common, belief when someone in the family passes. The next of kin automatically get what ever's in the estate.
If there's no paperwork / trail/ will, etc specifying what's in the estate, who is designated as heir's, distribution of assets, etc. the state steps in. If that's the case expect to pay $$ to the state. Our father had a will, outlining who gets what, except for the house.
State stepped in since no one was listed for the house. Costed $10K, plus some old permits from 30+ yrs prior the county never signed off on. That $300 (at the time) was now $1500 to have a "state designated" lic electrician come into review, inspect and sign off for something done decades ago, to code.
You might have to go to houston to get this sorted out.
We already went through probate. Fairly certain our probate lawyer wasn?t successful in getting details of the partnership in question but I?m also pretty sure it was still listed along with his other assets.
Let me know who's kneecaps need busting Ray, only an hour and a half from your old digs.
So basically there was a business that was set up as a partnership but there are no documents that show the terms of this partnership?
Was it a corp or llc? If so all of that stuff is supposed to be filed with the state that the corp or llc is filed in. If it was a simple sole proprietor type thing then depending on the business I would see if you can look at the books and see if it is worth even going after. If you are inhereting a portion of the business that also means that you are inherieting any liability and so on. The best way to deal with something like this is to have the business valued by an outside company and then have the business buy out your dads share of the company.
Oh ok...........OP:
My next suggestion is what def90 has said............ someone (the Company of course but they seem to be ignoring you in a way) has the legal documents (or certified copies) of how this was set up and your Fathers role in it.
Once you get that your Brother- the Executor of his Estate- can approach the company and get this figured out.
For the last two posters, that?s the problem. The lady in charge of the partnership is being totally uncooperative with releasing any information so that my brother ms and I can make an educated decision about how to handle the situation.
I?ve dug up as much information as I can through public records but as far as any sort of bylaws or structuring of the company I can?t seem to find much.
BladesNBarrels
09-03-2023, 10:09
Only from my experience, and without any legal training, I think you are best off finding a reputable attorney in TX.
Estate and Business law is different in every state, and after dealing with estate problems in TX, I can only say that it is totally different than CO.
I think the Executor should look for an attorney with experience in business structure and estates when no will is found.
I am guessing you have already contacted the TX equivalent of CO's Secretary of State to determine that the Partnership is an entity registered with the State.
Not knowing what type of business the partnership is conducting, or if it is a formal legal entity or a hand-shake agreement, it is difficult to recommend a course of action.
I have been a member of a hand-shake partnership in the past, and there are no legal rights in CO.
I don't know about TX, as my estate problem involved there had formal agreements that were available to all parties.
I did have a similar problem with hiring a lawyer in TX without being there.
My lawyer did not respond to phone calls, emails, registered letters, etc. after taking my retainer.
After the due dates for action had passed, he sent a form letter that stated he had taken leave of his practice to run for Congress.
What?
The executor should be able to obtain his tax returns. It's a bit of a process. That will tell you a lot more. Also you can pull canceled check or deposit images from his financial institutions (the executor can) which can be used to identify his business bank accounts if they are in the wind. There are also PI's that in some cases, can do a blind search for bank accounts and come up with nearly everything.
Just because the business is in Texas doesn't mean venue is there. If the business is part of the estate, venue is likely within the probate action, which could be reopened if needed. Depending on what County in Texas you are looking at, some make all of their records public, while some are behind a paywall, but it is worth it paying for a month (e.g. Tarrant for instance is $150/month) and getting absolutely all of the records you need. County Clerk's office / Clerk of the Recorder is where those details would be. If you are looking for some kind of tort (Fraud/Conversion/Breach, etc.), that would be in Texas. Texas does not use the federal model for rules/litigation, so don't get a dual-licensed attorney, get one in Texas. Read all reviews from all sources - google, avvo, and all the rest when considering retaining someone. Never run soley on some neighbor/friend/family recommendation for an attorney.
FWIW, I have litigated in Texas. There are many unique catch-22s in their pleadings (such as having to request facts and findings within a deadline), but some aspects are better, I tend to like their model for discovery and complaints/answers better, the biggest improvement is that they have a "no evidence" motion that does not exist anywhere in the federal model (including Colorado), where you can put the prosecution on the defense, allege they have no evidence, and they have to establish *something* for the case to proceed. Everywhere else, if they just allege facts (without evidence) it can go all the way to trial.
I'm not an attorney, so I can't help more directly.
For the last two posters, that?s the problem. The lady in charge of the partnership is being totally uncooperative with releasing any information so that my brother ms and I can make an educated decision about how to handle the situation.
I?ve dug up as much information as I can through public records but as far as any sort of bylaws or structuring of the company I can?t seem to find much.
Just my 2%......................
If I were your brother, since he's the named Executor, retain an Attorney there in Texas and create what is known as a Demand letter and serve the company.
It's as the title suggests, its the first step in demanding (getting) copies of the partnership paperwork from the company. If they then refuse, expect to sue them for it.
Along with that, as others have suggested, scour his financial records, to find out account numbers etc, amounts, what type of payments (ie are we talking royalties??).............
Read Foxes reply.
Otherwise honestly, become an asshole to this company. It's your right to know what this relationship was.
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