Question
How do I find out if any money was left to me from a will or trust?
— Anonymous Caring.com community member
Answer
Expert Barbara Repa, a Caring.com senior editor, is an attorney, a journalist specializing in aging issues, and the author of WillMaker, software enabling consumers to write their own wills, health care directives, powers of attorney, and final arrangements.
Time will provide the answer for you -- although you may need to be a bit patient.
After someone dies, the person named to manage and distribute the property -- called an executor of a will or a trustee of a trust -- must notify all beneficiaries and get them the property or cash they have coming to them. There is usually no set time limit for this, but it must occur "within a reasonable time" after the death.
If you're asking about the will or trust of a person who has not yet died, there is no real way to find out whether they intend to leave you anything other than to muster up your courage and ask. And bear in mind that people are free to change the terms of their wills or trusts as long as they're alive and reasoning.
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