Whats in the Will?

What is the name of your state?
PA
i'm a single mom, my son recently told me that he heard that his grandfather on his father's side left him money for college in his will. he found out about it because his relatives are supposedly trying to contest the will. his grandfather left the money to the eldest child in each of his childrens familys. well i only have the one child and the others all have more than two children, so they want the money split between all the children. how can i find out what the will really says without dealing with my exs family(i was never told any of this)? i am the legal gaurdian, my son is under 18, shouldn't somebody be the executer? is there any way i can represent my sons interest in this matter, so he get his inheritance? im affraid that if his father or any of his family get a hold of in my son will never see it.
DebbieW

If you know the city/state where the grandfather died (and the month and year of the death), then contact the county courthouse probate court to ask if the will has been filed. If it has been filed, it is public record and you can visit the courthouse to get a copy of it or call them to ask how you can order it by mail.

You really don't have too much to be concerned about. It will take a couple of months for the probate to be processed through court and I'm sure the executors will be sending a check to your son after all of the estate expenses have been paid, if we assume that the executor of this estate is a family member or attorney who knows what your son's address is. (When you visit the courthouse to get a copy of the will, you can also obtain from the probate file the name and address of the executor, so you can contact them to inform the executor of your son's address and phone number, or better yet, YOUR phone number and address since you are his guardian. You can set up a savings account or trust account or a college savings plan in your state to put the money in until he is ready to use it).

The fact is that the grandfather's instructions are specific and valid and he is permitted to write it exactly as he wanted it to be. The protesting relatives are stupid if they decide to contest, because they won't win--they have no legal grounds to contest it--there is usually a clause in the will that says anyone who contests it does not receive a penny. They would be smarter to just accept whatever money is given and then split the money amongst their children privately in whatever fashion they want to do it. Greed makes people do some strange things. (They should be grateful that they received anything at all--he didn't have to leave them anything!)

If they do contest it and lose, then that might mean the money they would have gotten might be divided up among the other heirs!

DANDY DON