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Guest
An old friend of mine died last September. He owned about 80 acres of beautiful wooded property as well as a house that is now on the State Historic Building list(or something to that effect). He grew up in the house and had a bitter dispute with his two sisters over the land following his mother's death...no will. After a year of disagreements over what was a fair and equitable division of the 300 acres and other property, they reached an agreement on the division of the assets of the mother. My friend only wanted to retain ownership of the house and salvage as much of the land as possible for no other reason than his love for his house and respect for the undeveloped land as a wildlife habitat and just the beauty of a great expanse of greenspace in a county growing into a sea of asphalt and beige subdivisions. The sisters just wanted the value of the land, which they received and signed off on. Regretfully, my friend did not heed his attorney's advice (my father was his attorney) and procrastinated for years in drawing up a will. Yet, a bit more than a month prior to his death, he finally drew up the document with Dad's law partner (my father had died the previous year...and this prompted my friend to finally heed his attorney's repeated entreaties as to creating a last will and testament. My friend's main concern was that neither of his sisters EVER gain any portion of that which he had fought so stubbornly for and they had so cavalierly sold to the highest bidder. Thereafter, the two sisters "disowned" him and refused to talk to him. For as long as I have known this friend, 28 years),he had consistently demonstrated verbally and otherwise his dislike for one sister in particular. Now this "sister" has contested this man's Last Will and Testament...which leaves everything to a young girl who he helped raise at one point in time...and had maintained contact with this 22 year old and even called her 2 out-of-wedlock kids his "grandchildren". He wanted her to have complete control of his assets at the age of 30. He specifically mentioned both sisters by name in this document...as the two people in the world who he never wanted to benefit from his assets...and under no circumstances should anything go to them! So, now this sister is challenging the validity of the will on any ground she can come up with...but it appears that she has finally decided to question this man's competence at the signing of this will. I feel that this sister is using her wealth to "force" this 22 year old into submission. They've been conducting depositions for months now. The girl's grandmother hired an attorney but is running out of money. The "bank" is the executor and trustee of this estate. They also handle funds of the sister's and appear to be willing to accept the sister's wishes regarding the disposition of the property that had to be sold to pay off creditors (themselves). I have no interest in this property other than it was my friend's intention to salvage as much as possible and to keep it out of the hands of this one sister. I had not had much more than 3 or 4 contacts with him a year...but those contacts confirmed to me his deep love for his land as well as his hatred for his sister. I also had visited with him about 1 week after he had drawn up the Will and we discussed that. Additionally, I had daily contact with him as he was allowed to linger in a hospital until we could finally get him back home to the house where his father and his mother had passed and where this human being deserved to take his last breaths. My question: The sister has now offerred this young woman 125,000.00 to "settle" the dispute and the sister would "go away and leave her alone". The will has not even been probated yet! Isn't this a very unethical if not illegal way to subvert the wishes of my friend? Doesn't the Judge and only the Judge have the authority to negate this Will? This kid would rather have the fast cash NOW than the true value of the property (1 million) in the 8 years provided for in the Trust. Of course!! This is why that property and the assets were put into a trust!!! Is this legal? They do not have the money anymore to contionue the depositions and cannot call me...and I am sure the sister would not want my testimony. I have information that I think is pertinent and goes to the credibility and lucidity of my friend's thinking. What in the world can I do in order for the Judge to take my testimony into account before rendering any decision regarding the validity of this Will? Do I have any options here? Can I write to the Judge? And even if I cannot contribute to the testimony, can anyone "settle" anything before the Judge rules on the validity? Can they just ignore the will of this man and make up their own rules? Please, I need feedback and answers! jenny (Kansas)