Q: Dad died. His will says his vacation home should be sold and proceeds distributed evenly among four sons. Residue of estate goes to sole sister. Problem is the vacation house was sold 6 months before Dad’s death. Brothers say they should divide proceeds of sale. Sister says it is all hers? Any advice that you can offer?

A: If the house was sold before his death it is not part of the estate and the proceeds, unless gifted or assigned to someone else, should have gone to dad? If there are still proceeds in dad’s bank account from this sale, that money falls into the estate residuary and in your case goes to sister. However, I am not looking at all the facts here and you should not rely fully on this opinion. You should really let an attorney look at all of these documents to answer with certainty. In addition, since this transfer was within one-year of death, it will be subject to inheritance tax on its full value minus a $3,000.00 deduction.