I have concerns about a lawyer who entered my father's life four months before he died (of kidney failure ... he was already dying when this lawyer first met my father). In those four months, this lawyer assumed power of attorney, took over my father's financial and health affairs (excluding the family from major decisions), and rewrote my father's will, which named him executor. A few months before my father died, he sold his business and the building for much less than we think it's worth. The lawyer drafted the sales contract and is now the secretary of the board of the business in question. The lawyer, of course, says he was only carrying out my father's wishes. Since my father's death, I have been trying to get information about my father's finances, both before and after his death, but the lawyer won't cooperate. He says we will get a full accounting of the estate after probate, but I have concerns about how money was spent before my father's death as well.
I am wondering if there are federal or state agencies that will investigate a matter such as this in New York State.
Apparently the size of your father's estate is considerable. You should have no difficuly in finding an attorney to investigate. I am not familiar with New York probate laws but it is usual for the exacutor to file with the court an inventory of the estate assets and this is a public record. But your opinion of vaues is not necessarily something that a bar association or a court could accept as final. In the probate fil you will find the identity of the witnesses to your father;s will. I note that there is no mention of your father's mental capacity. Is it posible that he instructed the individual to sell the property and even to set the valus.
It is not my intention to put roadblocks in your case. It is that you need to have professional help in this apparent lycomplex matter. I strongly urge you to be adequately prepared.