What is the name of your state? I am located in Georgia, where my father signed his last will. His previous address and wife live in TN where he moved from 3 weeks before he died.
This is a complex situation. My father was a resident of TN until he moved in with me in GA the last 3 weeks of his life. He was married to my stepmother, who didn't want to care for him in his final stages of cancer. So after he moved in with me, he told me she had made him sign a will and he didn't know what it said and he wanted to draft a new one. So I had that done for him in GA, as well as assigning me as executor and power of attorney. He died 3 weeks later. My father only had an IRA (designating his 4 adult children as beneficiaries) which my attorney advised was not considered part of an estate. His only other property included two used vehicles that he co-owned with my stepmother and the house and land they have in TN. Because my stepmother is difficult to deal with, I as executor spoke with the beneficiaries and we came to an agreement to leave the property as-is all to my stepmother, along with the $20K in social security disability money she had received on my father's behalf while he was living. Now though she is wreaking havok on our lives and sending us his unpaid medical bills that are over 10 months old - back when he was still living in TN! Because there is no estate, my attorney advised that we have no legel responsibility for those bills.
His will specifically mentions that failure to provide for my stepmother was intentional. He states that his IRA and all his personal possessions go to the 4 adult children. My question is, do his beneficiaries (his 4 children from a previous marriage) have any rights to the aforementioned property? If she is going to continue to harrass us with bills to pay, I'd like to collect all that was rightfully my fathers so I can pay whatever outstanding bills she should have already paid. In other words, do I have a legal right to now go after this property and create an estate so that we can probabe it?
This is a complex situation. My father was a resident of TN until he moved in with me in GA the last 3 weeks of his life. He was married to my stepmother, who didn't want to care for him in his final stages of cancer. So after he moved in with me, he told me she had made him sign a will and he didn't know what it said and he wanted to draft a new one. So I had that done for him in GA, as well as assigning me as executor and power of attorney. He died 3 weeks later. My father only had an IRA (designating his 4 adult children as beneficiaries) which my attorney advised was not considered part of an estate. His only other property included two used vehicles that he co-owned with my stepmother and the house and land they have in TN. Because my stepmother is difficult to deal with, I as executor spoke with the beneficiaries and we came to an agreement to leave the property as-is all to my stepmother, along with the $20K in social security disability money she had received on my father's behalf while he was living. Now though she is wreaking havok on our lives and sending us his unpaid medical bills that are over 10 months old - back when he was still living in TN! Because there is no estate, my attorney advised that we have no legel responsibility for those bills.
His will specifically mentions that failure to provide for my stepmother was intentional. He states that his IRA and all his personal possessions go to the 4 adult children. My question is, do his beneficiaries (his 4 children from a previous marriage) have any rights to the aforementioned property? If she is going to continue to harrass us with bills to pay, I'd like to collect all that was rightfully my fathers so I can pay whatever outstanding bills she should have already paid. In other words, do I have a legal right to now go after this property and create an estate so that we can probabe it?