Just received a letter from the court regarding my dads estate.. no idea what this means

[Anonymous]

My dad passed away and did not have a will. He owned a house in Maryland that is only in his name, he was not married when he died. Me and my brohter are his only children. My brother did the paperwork so that he was in charge of the estate. We decided to let my dad's house go because it is in debut, run down and would need a lot of money to fix it up to rent out or sell. Neither one of us felt comfortable taking on the finanical burden of trying to keep the house and get it renovated. My brother is handling most of this stuff.

Here's a letter I received in the mail today, any idea what this means? I can't believe they actually send letters out with this confusing language.

You are hereby commanded to attach the body of "my brothers name and address are here" and he immediately have before the Orphans' Court here now holding at Upper Marlboro, in and for Prince George's County, to answer unto the State of Maryland, touching a certain contempt by his committed, in failing to comply with an order of the Orphans' Court for Prince George's Country, Maryland.
Hereof fail not at your peril, and have you then and there this writ.
That a bond be set in the amount of $1,000.00 to secure his release.
So ordered this "date is inserted here"
Then at the bottom there is a signature that is labeled "Judge"

What the hell does this mean?

[Anonymous]

Sounds like they're putting a lien on your borther's property for an unpaid obligation. Does he owe child support or does the estate owe taxes?

[Anonymous]

Legal jargon is so annoying. WTF can't they just put stuff in plain language?

IDKWTF they're saying in this letter. Is it addressed to you?

[Anonymous]

Yikes! My brother does not own any child support.

I forgot to add that at the top of the letter it says:

In the estate of [my dad's name is here]

Is it possible that my dad's house owe's taxes and they are putting a lien on my brothers property? I Honestly, I wouldnt be surprised if my dad had kids elsewhere that none of us knew about so I guess there is that possibility. I'm guessing it must have something to do with the house though.

[Anonymous]

The envelope was addressed to me but the letter itself was not addressed to anybody.

Yeah, why the hell do they have to use this annoying language that hardly anyone can understand.

[Anonymous]

There is nothing about that letter that makes any sense, grammatically or otherwise. It's like word salad.

[Anonymous]

Call the Judge or courthouse and ask.

[Anonymous]

You received a copy of a body attachment. A body attachment is like a warrant for his arrest, but rather than being taken to jail, he will be taken directly to the judge after he is arrested. The body attachment was issued because the judge believes that he has committed contempt of court. Ie. the judge ordered him to do something and he didn't do it.

From that letter, I have no idea what he was ordered to do and didn't do.

You probably received a copy of the body attachment because you are an heir and therefore an interested party in the case. You should be getting copies of all of the Court's orders and anything that your brother has filed.

You can call the Court to ask if you need to do anything, but you probably don't need to do anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You received a copy of a body attachment. A body attachment is like a warrant for his arrest, but rather than being taken to jail, he will be taken directly to the judge after he is arrested. The body attachment was issued because the judge believes that he has committed contempt of court. Ie. the judge ordered him to do something and he didn't do it.

From that letter, I have no idea what he was ordered to do and didn't do.

You probably received a copy of the body attachment because you are an heir and therefore an interested party in the case. You should be getting copies of all of the Court's orders and anything that your brother has filed.

You can call the Court to ask if you need to do anything, but you probably don't need to do anything.

I was just thinking I hate lawyers, but then you go and post that nice interpretation. So I only hate SOME lawyers (who write crap like that!).

[Anonymous]

I just texted him a copy of the letter. I'm assuming he also has received this letter?

I will call the courthouse tomorrow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You received a copy of a body attachment. A body attachment is like a warrant for his arrest, but rather than being taken to jail, he will be taken directly to the judge after he is arrested. The body attachment was issued because the judge believes that he has committed contempt of court. Ie. the judge ordered him to do something and he didn't do it.

From that letter, I have no idea what he was ordered to do and didn't do.

You probably received a copy of the body attachment because you are an heir and therefore an interested party in the case. You should be getting copies of all of the Court's orders and anything that your brother has filed.

You can call the Court to ask if you need to do anything, but you probably don't need to do anything.

I was just thinking I hate lawyers, but then you go and post that nice interpretation. So I only hate SOME lawyers (who write crap like that!).

OP'er here, yes than you for explaining that.

I have many laywer friends that I like a lot.