CHARLOTTE, N.C. — They started as neighbors. Then, they became friends. Today, 98-year-old Geraldine Lindsey's memory, in Amanda O'Hara's mind, is still very much alive.
"Geri was an amazing woman," O'Hara said smiling. "She meant a lot to me. She was like a third grandmother to me. Very charitable. She was a woman that carried herself with so much integrity."
More than two years after Lindsey's death, O'Hara remains consumed by what happens to her friend's money and personal belongings. The Charlotte woman said the only thing she stands to gain is peace of mind.
"She never left any of us behind, and I'm not going to leave her behind," O'Hara said.
Challenging the executor
O'Hara recently filed paperwork in Mecklenburg County asking the Clerk of Superior Court to remove the executor of Lindsey's estate "for inappropriate behavior" and "not acting in decedent or Estate's benefit."
"Four days after her death I saw activity in the home. I saw belongings getting removed and it just seemed very odd," O'Hara said. "(The eventual executor) actually had all of her belongings removed through an estate sale before she was even cremated."
Court records show Lindsey wrote out a will, which laid out who gets what upon her death. She split everything three ways between what family she had left and another longtime friend, but she did not name an executor, according to the will on file.
Documents show it took almost ten months for the clerk to officially appoint that person executor and give him legal authority to collect Lindsey's assets, pay any of her debts and distribute her property to the proper people.
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"Nothing should have been removed from that home, nobody should have been entering that home until the probate process was started or until an executor was named," O'Hara said. "If he had followed proper protocols then there wouldn't be an issue."
The probate process
Probate is the legal process in which a court determines the validity of a will and authorizes the transfer of a person's property.
A recent study by an online estate planning company revealed the public is largely uneducated about the inheritance process. Trust & Will found more than one-third of people believe inheritance is automatic upon someone's passing and that most people don't understand the costs and time associated with the probate process.
"A common misconception is as soon as somebody passes away, (an executor can) start taking action," Trust and Estate Attorney Mike Anderson said. "They're not empowered to take action just because they're named in the will. They have to be empowered by the court."
Anderson said disputes after someone's death routinely lead to delays and high legal fees. He said his office is in the midst of one contested case that's dragged on for more than four years, which drains money.
"Probate is a long, tedious, exacting process that you don't have total control over," he said. "Recently, we were in a court where the issues in dispute totaled less than $10,000. The lawyers' fees added all up from all sides were more than a quarter million dollars."
Anderson urges people to take action today, so they can avoid the delays, costs and other challenges of probate. He said if you don't consult an attorney, come up with a plan and then share that information with your loved ones, a clerk of court will eventually control your last wishes.
"If you don't do your planning, odds are the State of North Carolina will decide for you," he said. "It's not your choice. It's what the law says."
Anderson said his planning works to avoid probate by creating living trusts and designating beneficiaries, but he said every person's situation is different and needs to be treated as such. He said the key, though, is making sure your wishes are crystal clear, even if it takes walking around with your cell phone, filming your personal items and telling your loved ones who gets what and if needed, explaining why.
"Communicate with your family. Don't leave things to surprise," Anderson said. "Have a plan. Be willing to talk with them, even if it's a hard conversation."
Difficult to police
One of Amanda O'Hara's biggest complaints about her friend's situation is that the courts did not raise questions.
"I don't believe there's enough oversight over this at all," she told WCNC Charlotte. "There were very obvious signs on these documents that the probate office missed."
After O'Hara filed her petition for the current executor's removal, court records show he filed an updated inventory in July 2024, detailing a previously undisclosed $770,000 in investments left behind by Lindsey. The initial filing, from December 2022, only listed a checking account and real estate.
When someone disputes the handling of an estate, Mecklenburg County Clerk of Superior Court Public Information Officer Brittany Foster said their only real recourse is to file a petition or motion for a proper hearing in front of a clerk or judge, which O'Hara did. Leading up to the filing of an estate case, Foster said the court's authority is limited.
"Generally speaking, at that point the court has no jurisdiction over that person or over the decedent and no way of overseeing or 'policing' those 'post-death' but 'pre-Estate' actions," she said. "As for court oversight of the estate administration process, we require all personal representatives to provide supporting documentation to substantiate all estate transactions."
A hearing in this case is set for August 29, 2024.
"I want justice, I want answers, I want results," O'Hara said. "I want to be her advocate and I want to be others' advocate as well."
When contacted by phone, the executor told WCNC Charlotte he did "nothing wrong" and "carried out (Geri's) wishes." WCNC Charlotte gave him and his attorney the opportunity to share additional documents and talk on-camera about the situation. Neither responded to that offer.
Contact Nate Morabito at nmorabito@wcnc.com and follow him on Facebook, X and Instagram.
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