For the past two years, the Sheriff's Tax Department has been working on probably the largest and most complicated, single estate case in the history of Kanawha County. It began in 2007 after a Polish immigrant and Catholic priest died.
He had been living in the Cedar Grove area in what officials with the tax department call a house that is now uninhabitable.
Despite a vow of poverty taken with the Catholic Church, this man of the cloth had amassed a small fortune while living in America.
The tax department has found so far he was worth over $1.5 million.
"A lot of it was in multiple, multiple, multiple, bank accounts and multiple types of investments and retirement products," explains Chief Tax Deputy Allen Bleigh. "There was (also) $60,000 in cash in a safety deposit box."
By the state law, Bleigh and his department are the conservators and executors of the estate. So far, they've found 13 people who could lay claim to the priest's assets and property.
All of those people are the man's blood brothers and sisters. Twelve of them so far have been tracked down and contacted throughout Europe.
However, one has not been located at this time.
"It is so widely complex and full of international law as well as other legal issues, we've had to employ the assistance of outside counsel to help us," Bleigh says.
Rumors said the Vatican and officials from the Catholic Church may also try to lay claim to the estate, but Bleigh says that's not true.
The only other entity that has tried claim a portion of the money is a small church where the man used to conduct his priestly duties.
"There was one small claim made by a church for mass stipends that they claim were never performed and they wanted their money back. Other than that no one has made any type of official claim on anything," Bleigh explains.
After years working on the case, Bleigh says its finally drawing to a close. He hopes to have 95-percent of the work wrapped up by July of this year.
There's also no word on how or where the priest received his money.
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(Source: MN)