If you have been left an inheritance by a friend or family member, you should be aware that the downturn in the real estate market will probably affect the amount that you stand to inherit and the amount of time it will take for you to receive your inheritance.

The vast majority of American probate estates contain one or more pieces of real property. Real property is developed or undeveloped land commonly known as “real estate.” All of the real and personal property in an estate must be sold before the estate can make a final distribution to the heirs. While the possibility of a preliminary distribution does exist, more and more prudent Personal Representatives are waiting until all of the real property is sold in order to avoid personal liability should a property sell for less than the appraised amount.

That brings us to the first potential delay. When a probate estate is opened, the Court will order an Inventory & Appraisal of all of the estate’s assets. As these appraisals age, they are less and less likely to portray a realistic sale price. In California, if the proposed sale price is less than 90% of the Court’s original appraised value, the attorney handling the estate will have to petition the court for a reappraisal of the property before the sale can be approved. This can add weeks or months to the already slow probate process.

This first delay would probably be welcomed by most heirs because it assumes that there has been an offer made to purchase the property! With the current glut of properties on the market and the increasing rates of foreclosure (even if good neighborhoods), offers to purchase are fewer and farther between! Real estate professionals across the nation will tell you that the current wave of foreclosures has added to the already high levels of market inventory. Increased inventory, coupled with a tightening of lending standards has lead to longer sales cycles.

When property values were rising, a typical probate estate would take between 9 to 12 months to close. These days, depending upon the market where the property is located, estates are taking 12 to 24 months to close and that is often only after reducing the listing price on the property several times in order to find a buyer.

If you are the person charged with administering the estate, it might be wise to remember the old maxim: a bird in hand is worth two in the bush. While it may not always be intelligent to “race to the bottom,” it still might be prudent to “lock in a number” and get the estate closed, even if it is for less than the heirs were hoping for. You don’t want to be forced to use phrases that contain the words “should’ve” or “could’ve” when explaining your decision to the heirs.

A QUEENSLAND family has been fleeced of more than $1.3 million in an elaborate variation of a scam that persuades people to part with large sums of money so they can retrieve an overseas inheritance, police say.

The fraud has become known as the Nigerian 419 scam.

Steven Baker, a member of the Queensland family who lost up to $1.5 million, has told police he was approached by a friend who believed her father, whom she had never met, had left a $US17 million ($20.38 million) estate when he passed away.

He said the woman had never met her father, but she knew his name and responded to a newspaper advertisement that had individually targeted her, mentioning both her name and her father’s.

Fraudsters communicated with the woman through a solicitor from a Liberian legal firm offering her the “inheritance”, however the woman could not afford the requested series of payments to cover supposed legal fees, administrative charges and local taxes to forward the funds to Australia.

Mr. Baker was then approached to help.

During the scam, which lost the Baker family between $1.3 million and $1.5 million since early 2005, Mr Baker travelled to Europe three times, where he was shown an elaborate ruse of fake government officialdom in Spain, Italy and Holland and was taken to a Spanish bank and shown a case of United States currency that was supposedly the inheritance.

“The professionalism of it is just unbelievable, the paperwork, the officials, going to government departments, you would think if they were straight out scammers they wouldn’t have access to government officials and places and the paperwork with all the stamps,” Mr. Baker told ABC radio.

Mr. Baker came forward to police after viewing a current affairs segment on Nigerian-style scams last month.

Police said the scam in which the Baker family lost money was an especially elaborate version of the Nigerian-style scam, which can originate from any part of the world.

“We can only theorize how they came to know (the woman) and I would suggest it would be from online chat rooms where she thinks she knows who she’s talking to, and people say a lot of things that they wouldn’t tell others,” Detective Acting Superintendent Brian Hay of the Fraud and Corporate Crime Group said.

“I’d say they built up a profile and specifically targeted that person. (This is a) very elaborate, well-resourced and well-organized scam.”

The Baker family should feel no shame, he said.

“They saw an opportunity, it (seemed) legitimate, they did a lot of research, a lot of the names of the companies and businesses all panned out to be legitimate with their cursory inquires.”

Anyone who is asked to send money overseas for an investment or inheritance retrieval should contact the country’s consulate in Australia first, he said.

One man has been arrested in Amsterdam following Mr. Baker’s complaint.