The Attorneys for the Michael Jackson Probate case rejected some strange claims. TMZ.com reported that the estate disputes the validity of several claims some of which are just odd and the claimants lack standing to bring.
Among them include "A pissed off private citizen" who wants the estate to reimburse the city of LA to be reimbursed $3.3 million of dollars for his funeral memorial.
A woman seeking $2 million for her home schooling services.
A woman who claimed to be his wife and wanted custody of the children who they told to get lost.
An additional woman is demanding $50 million because she claims that Michael Jackson wiretapped her phone and had organized criminals watching her. She was also told to get lost.
The full article can be viewed by clicking here.
Although this is a California case in Florida the procedure for creditor claims is that following the appointment as personal representative the PR or their Florida Probate Attorney on their behalf would publish notice to creditors in a publication authorized to publish legal notices. It would run once a week for two consecutive weeks. Any creditors which are not known or reasonably ascertainable then would be required to file creditor claims against the estate within 3 month period of publication. If they were it is the greater of 3 months or 30 days after service of notice to them but in no case no longer than 2 years after the date of death. If a claim is filed within the time the estate then has the greater of 30 days after service or 4 months after initial publication of notice to dispute it in which case they can deny any liability as was done with the above claims or agree that something is owed but indicate it should be only x amount. If the claim is denied then an independent action must be taken by the person filing the claim. That would be to bring a lawsuit in probate court. A probate litigation attorney could seek to assist the estate in defending the claim which is felt unjustified. If the lawsuit against the estate is not filed then the claim is considered abandoned.
The deadlines and probate process rules are important to be followed or the case can be lost. In Florida there are no creditor claims after two years under any situation unless a claim has been timely filed. The Florida statutes regarding Creditor Claims can be found by clicking here.