Should I hire a lawyer (see details)?

Depends on the value of the estate and the nature of your relationship with your brother. Not suggesting your brother is up to no good, just be careful what you sign or have signed to date. This is where an estate attorney could properly counsel you. Sorry about your loss!

I would say try to get clarification from your brother first, on everything. These things can get kind of ugly if not handled properly. If you didn’t receive checks that your brother says he sent to you get your brother to run them down and see what happened. I doubt that he would risk losing his license to practice law to steal from you. If your parents are both dead don’t burn your bridges with your brother, apparently your only sibling, if you have previously had a reasonably good relationship with him. That would be my advice. And, if he is the executor of the estate he has to account for the the funds to whatever state the will was filed in. I doubt he is doing anything that isn’t above board.

I, too, am sorry to hear about your loss. It doesn’t help when doubts are created about the intent of the person handling the estate, be it a relative or someone else.

I agree with @lillycoyote‘s response. It’s a shame that your brother didn’t verbally offer to follow up on the checks as he should have in his role. Ask him to arrange to have the checks cancelled and resubmitted after confirming your address. Another option is to arrange to have the money electronically deposited into an account. I did this with the quarterly checks issued from our father’s estate distributions.

Another suggestion is to request a copy of reports on how the funds are being distributed.

I would certainly get more involved as it sounds odd and a red flag.
Get more involved or get a lwayer. Do it now before you regret not doing so at some point down the road.

I think it’s way to early for you to consider hiring an attorney.

One thing that you should figure out is if he has received the checks for the estate as an executor or as one of the beneficiaries of the estate. If he received those checks to hold as a fiduciary in his capacity as an executor, then the fact that you haven’t gotten anything isn’t really surprising – even the duplicates. He has to settle all debts against the estate prior to distribution.

In all honesty, one of the last things that I think people need to be worried about is a lawyer in the family, without prior notice of any wrong activity, suddenly attempting to screw another close family member out of an inheritance. This is ESPECIALLY true of an estate lawyer. Someone who is an estate lawyer who would screw someone like that, or try to, not only risks not succeeding, but if discovered is totally screwed by the bar.

One of the things that the bar generally does not tolerate in any sense is estate conflicts of interest… it’s something that casts the most disparaging light on the entire profession.

I have no idea whether your brother is billing your mother’s estate for his work as an attorney, but if he is, you are definitely entitled to a report on the activity in regards to his work up to this point. You said it has been a little over a year and it seems there should be plenty of progress being made in that time. When he said duplicate checks had been sent to you, did that mean a copy of the checks he received or checks sent to you in the same amount? I would request a report or written update from him. I am just speculating that he is billing the estate for the time or at least some of the time he was worked on the estate. If he is being paid as a working attorney, he should be updating like an attorney.

Your brother really should not be handling the estate as an attorney because he is a beneficiary of it. That is a conflict of interest.

However, if he was named the Trustee of the estate under the Will, then any work he does on the estate would be in that capacity and totally unrelated to his job as an attorney. The Trustee usually is not compensated for any work involving the closing of the estate because he accepted that work when he agreed to be appointed Trustee. Any expenses that he wishes to be compensated for must be presented to the beneficiaries for their approval (and sometimes to the court as well – in which case the beneficiaries would each submit an Affidavit approving fees to the court). The Trustee is bound by the terms and conditions of the Will.

In the future, if your brother sends you anything relating to the estate, I would request that it be done by certified mail, return receipt requested. I would also request that you be carbon copied on any correspondence regarding the estate whether or not it is addressed to you. If he’s filing anything with the court, he’s obligated to include you on the Certificate of Service and send you a copy. You are certainly within your rights to ask to review any work he’s done on the estate at any time.