Estate rights to stock owned in joint property country

[Guest MSCTRS]

During my parents marriage, my father worked for a large US based company through which he could purchase stock. When he left that corporation 20 years ago, he and my mother moved back to the country of their birth. The country has a strict community property provision in its laws so as to consider that all stock would be jointly owned. It also has provisions in the estate laws whereby if no will exists, all heirs would have equal rights to the property in the estate. Thus, 50% of the stock would be considered part of the estate of the deceased and that 50% would be divided amonst the heirs.

My mother died three years ago and my father is trying hard not to reconcile her estate. His mistress at the time had moved in with him shortly after my mother's passing (they have not married). She is from a different country which is well known for younger women (in this case 40) finding older wealthy men (in this case 74) and disappearing with the man's money. Because of this, the children have decided to force the settlement so that the estate portion would be "saved" but my father keeps delaying things.

We put an "embargo" on the stock, which is serviced through a company in Rhode Island so that the money could not "disappear" which other assets have done over the last 3 years.

We now wonder if he will file suit against the RI company to cash in the stock, circumventing the laws in the country where the embargo is held and the testimony he gave to the judge in last year's hearing about his use of funds.

So the question is, based on this, in the US are there any "estate" rights to stock purchased under a company stock plan? Do the laws of the country where the individuals live have any bearing on the ownership?

[david rigby]

... circumventing the laws...

What I know about such matters will not fill a thimble. But aren't you doing exactly this? BTW, if you want to protect some of your "inheritance", ask him to give it to you now.

Your needs go way beyond this Message Board. Probably need an attorney well versed in estate matters, and knowledgeable about tax treaties.

[Guest MSCTRS]

When we informed him that we had decided to settle the estate because of the possible sale of our family business, he stopped speaking with us and has been trying to block any sale or settlements.

We have reason to believe that he is trying to circimvent the country's rules and sell the stock in the US which would leave the estate with nothing.

That's why we are trying to find out what restrictions there might be for selling the stock.

[mbozek]

There are two separate issues : 1) Your father'r rights to the stock under US law and 2) the heirs rights to 50% of the stock under the laws of country where your mother died. These are parallel worlds and you need legal advice on the laws of each jursidicton. The RI company will most likely ask a fed ct to decide who owns the stock if your father attempts to enforce his rights to sell the shares.