Inheritance is short $150 thousand! What can I do to find the money?

Pay the attorney to handle the matter. They know best what to do.

First of all, slow down.Probate takes time for a reason. If the money doesn't appear, get someone involved who does this for a living.
"Unsuspect" your cousin, unless you have some really good reason to suspect him, but BOTH of you supposedly have about $75k on the line, so he shouldn't mind looking through (and making available) the bank statements to figure out where the other $75k was last "seen".
Someone (the executor) needs to look through all of your uncles papers to find records of the CDs, etc., and contact every institution that you find. With the SS# & death certificate your cousin (if he is the executor) could contact all of the banks that you uncle did business with get an accounting of the CDs, etc. (maybe a safe deposit box). This takes time, and the executor SHOULD be compensated, and the courts have a formula for this.
BTW, keep the mail coming -- make sure that mail that is sent to his home address continues to go somewhere (your cousin's house, the attorneys, your house). Statements may appear that you guys didn't know about (ie quarterly investment statements).. Make sure you re-new the forward instructions with the post office every 5-6 months for AT LEAST a year. It's free, and some banks won't contact you until 1+ year of "inactivity".

Sorry for any typos, grammar issues - it's late here (Redondo Beach, CA) couldn't sleep - husb is really snoring tonight - bless his heart. I was faced with much the same problem about 8-9 yrs. ago and my fight with my half-sister lasted nearly 5 yrs. She was Agent under POA (medical & financial) and Pers. Rep. under my father's will. Problem #1 - Dad died in CO where 1/2 sis & husb. after just buying 3+ acres horse prop. for $275,000 CASH!!!! and after being renters for the last 2 decades and only income source from husb working pt as long-haul truck driver. To make things more difficult for me, dad owned real property in WA & AZ - (WA add. his primary res.) and I live in CA. When my dad realized mental capabilities were declining and had always regarded me as a common sense organizer of just about everything. So he asked me to spend about a week in WA setting up a 'reminder' system that he could make sense of (bills, statements, quarterly taxes due, when to take pills, etc.) It was while I was sorting through, filing or processing the mountains of paperwork, mail, statements, etc. that I realized my father had WELL over 1.3 mil. in assets. He then asked me to come to his "snow-bird" home in AZ and organize things the same way I did in WA. I discovered and add'l $200,000 in stocks that he owned. I never even considered writing down what & where his assets were - not my business... until my father passed a couple of years later & my sister moved dad to CO near her & against my strong protests. I wished that I had taken copies of everything. She got 2 doctors to declare dad incompetent about 1 yr. before his death and made it virtually impossible for me to visit him. Shortly after his death, I requested a copy of the stmt of estate assets sis was required to file with the probate court. Imagine my shock when assets totaled less than $33,000 uhmm wonder where the $275,000 came from she used to pay for her newly acquired horse prop. - complete with horses & new barn. Every attempt I made to obtain any info. re: my dad (medical & financial) I was stopped dead in my tracks due to PRIVACY LAWS, My CA atty who referred me to an idiot atty in CO said "how are you going to prove; #1 that my dad actually did have this alleged substantial amt. in assets; and #2 show that dad did not willingly give sis this money because he wanted her to have it? Both of these attorneys, specializing in probate matters remember, were clueless regarding side-stepping privacy laws, obtaining financial records, bank acct records, etc. I couldn't believe it - two probate attys in 2 states telling me, in short, proving elderly financial abuse will be extremely difficult if not impossible and wind up costing far more than my share of the $33,000 plus half of the proceeds from the sale of my dad's AZ property which SHE valued at $40,000 because her son was going to purchase (fair mkt value was $180,000 - but no one, including my stupid atty, made her obtain a professional appraisal). No way was I going to stand for or accept this. So, armed with only a B.S. degree and an employment background as a senior paralegal in CA for 7 yrs., I charged in head first. Instead of only receiving appx. $35,000 I managed to get close to $262,000 (still far short of the $650,000 - $750,000 my dad had intended me to receive). I used certified copies of my dad's will, the Freedom of Information Act., copies of my dads FEDERAL TAX TRANSCRIPTS, notarized copies of letters to investment co's, banks, stock companies, etc. and an eye for handwriting analysis which the judge holding the mediation hearing had confirmed fraudulent through the Sherriff's Forensics Handwriting Dept. prior to the hearing (and which sis had submitted as truthful & original evidence to support her defense that just a few months before his death, dad decided he hated me, wanted to take me out of his will & give her everything. Sis lost any credibility that she may have had, my atty. was sanctioned for not proceeding with my case in a timely manner thereby giving sis more time to spend money from my share - It was strongly suggested by the judge that my atty waive any money I owed him (just over $10,000 - already paid $32,000), or he would find a way to tell me my atty is guilty of malpractice (which I already knew.) Anyway, the details of my triumph over privacy laws, convincing the company that my dad had selected to administer my share of his estate through a testamentary trust to decline this position; and so much more will take a lot more time to explain. If you can provide me with a way to contact you (maybe set up a free temporary email acct. I will respond. Anyway, don't believe anyone that says it can't be done, or it will cost you a lot of money and you will be worse off fighting it. I know, for a fact, by first hand experience because I thought things through and gave it a shot - Fight It with everything you have!!!!!!

BTW, don't COUNT on having any money for at least a year, but the executor may be able to split the known money between the two of you sooner.

I am DPOA and executor of my moms will. I have had complete control and oversite for over three years. My mom never wants to know anything - beyond knowing she is being taken care of. My mom has a chunk of change which I look after. I have no intention of defrauding my two brothers - if there is anything left by the time mom passes on. That's said - if I were dishonest - the evil, manipulating sort - it would be very easy to do. Very easy. I'm afraid you may find yourself SOL. Hire a forensic accountant if and when you finally get the account information and things don't add up. In the meantime I remain as transparent as possible and provide my brothers with whatever info they ask for - short of actual account numbers and passwords. There was a reason my parents chose me for this job instead of either one of my brothers.

Good work, peahead!! You remind me of my daughter, who is trained as a paralegal. She is very tenacious and not afraid to take matters into her own hands and dig in to resolve situations much like you have done. This type of scenario with inheritance hijacking is SO common nowadays it seems. I am always amazed (although I shouldn't be) at some peoples' greed when it comes to money and inheritance. In both mine and my husband's families there is that ONE sibling that wants it all for themselves. Why is that? What makes them so freakin' greedy? They are willing to give up the relationships with all their family members just to get their hands on the most cash they can grab. I just don't get it. I know it's very real and very common, but I just don't understand WHY some people are like that. Money, particularly unearned money, really brings out the truly ugly and evil side of humanity. I guess because my husband and I have plenty of money we are not going on a feeding frenzy with our parents' assets, but one sibling in each of our families is on a mission to take it all. My husband's brother has succeeded - their mother left his 4 siblings completely out of her will. Didn't even mention them. These were her kids that did a lot for her over the years. But she only chose one to inherit it all. He has gained all the cash but lost his family forever. He made sure it couldn't be contested by wrapping her main asset - her house - in a trust with himself as the successor trustee. So even though the will is quite contestable, since she had 5 children and only mentioned one, there is nothing of value that is not contained in the trust, so my husband and his other 3 sibs would each win a 1/5 share of virtually nothing. My sister has been working the same agenda with my parents. It remains to be seen how it will end, since our mother is still alive. But 3 of us siblings are kept in the dark while our mom has made our sister the only one that has access to any information about her financial matters. No transparency, no checks and balances. We'll see how it all ends. I won't be surprised if she gets it all. But before my mom goes I want to get it out of her mouth whether (or not) she wants me to have anything. I don't want my sister to be able to say "Mom didn't want you to have anything" and not know if that was truly my mom's intention. Once she's gone I will never know. That would be emotionally very painful for me to live with. It's not the money it's the parental rejection that would hurt the worst - for me, anyway.

By the way, 'lifeexperiences' - I had previously recommended an attorney, and/or possibly an advance on your expected inheritance... however I may have left out another helpful option -- if this situation is still dragging on mercilessly, driving you crazy, you might consider looking into heir location services... locating missing inheritances, or unclaimed inheritances... often called heir finders or missing heir finders, as well as heir location services.

At least it won't cost you anything personally as fees are paid from the estate, if you get the right heir location service, that is recommended by many of the top probate and estate attorneys in your area... and who has a ton of unclaimed estate & heir location experience, and knows how to recover unclaimed assets, missing inheritances, or unclaimed inheritances quickly and seamlessly. Unclaimed assets that belong to you apparently, in this specific case.

This type of help, a firm that knows how to recover inheritance assets that rightfully belong to you... (we'll call it unclaimed assets, or missing inheritance assets), may be a good option for you.. as well as for other readers of this forum who are in a similar situation and need to recover their unclaimed assets, or who need to establish heirship... if that's in question for some reason. Some people have significant unclaimed inheritance assets. A lot of people use a firm like American Research Bureau, or ARB, arb. or they might go to heirfinder when they need fast heir location services to recover assets, to recover missing inheritance assets, or an unclaimed inheritance... because their fees are paid from the estate, and they are fast and good. This type of arrangement gets you top level probate & estate research. If you're genuinely entitled to an inheritance you deserve the best help to establish heirship or just to recover a missing inheritance, some people are actually missing heirs, but in your case, you don't need help with identifying and locating potential heirs and beneficiaries -- you need to establish that you're entitled to a share of an unclaimed estate -- and 100% of that share should be coming to you, not just some of it! That's my two cents.

First of all, 'lifeexperiences' – you might consider getting a more proactive attorney. A really good lawyer will know how to assemble all the paperwork and get to the bottom of the missing money. $150K is a lot of cash to go missing – it couldn’t just walk away, there must be an explanation. It may cost you more but it will be worth it to locate the missing assets. It also sounds like you don’t trust your cousin, and he may be a person of interest if you are investigating this problem thoroughly. It sounds like you already have your suspicions – you just need professional help chasing this cash down. And you don’t want to wait for ever to get to it! The longer you wait, the more difficult things can get. I’ve heard a lot of stories like this, when there is a lot of money involved it can get difficult. If your cash flow is not strong, you also might consider looking into getting a good sized advance on your inheritance… generally called an inheritance advance, inheritance loan, or probate loan. Inheritance loans are provided by inheritance advance firms – established inheritance advance specialists that have been furnishing inheritance loans for trusts or probate loans, for heirs and beneficiaries, for well over 20 years; and have a good presence online. Just look up inheritance loans, inheritance advances, or probate loans, “borrowing against inheritance” or “getting an advance on an inheritance”… etc. If you can get approved for an inheritance advance, or an inheritance loan, it will give you more money to work with… attorneys and their investigators don’t come cheap, as you know. A lot of people in your position get an inheritance loan, or a fast probate loan, when they need extra fast cash to protect their interests, hire their own attorney, or whatever. You can get approved for an inheritance advance in a matter of days. It sounds like you feel strongly that your current lawyer is not doing enough to resolve this issue. Unless he is doing enough, but the assets are well hidden or are the victim of an unfortunate accounting error. On the other hand, $150,000 is a very large error. But with the right professional help, you’ll get to the bottom of it. I just think you need to move more quickly now.

Do not trust what you are told. Get everything in writing. Do not do this on your own, get an attorney. Sometimes people think they have more money than they do cause they forget they took money out of accounts. Call all the local banks to see if they person had an account. You will need their SS number. Also contact the state, often funds that go dorment for over a year go to the state, and u can recover those funds. Get an legal help from people who do this all the time.

hi greg2015...i told the attorney that handles the trust that i knew what had been reported soooo far was short!! im sure my cousin stole thousands...but becuase i even brought it up...the trust attorney took note...and looked for more money that was not reported by my cousin. i actually was notified by a company that my father was next of kin...and recovered another $15 thou that my cousin thought she could keep. I actually got lucky and recovered quite a bit...cause my cousin was afraid to be discovered as a thief! whatever she got...good for her! karma....it will come back to bite her in the ass ... that she is!! thanks