wills

What is the name of your state? florida, estate in question, west virginia.

my husband's uncle died in april or may of 2002. in conversations over the phone, his uncle told him that he was to be sole benificary of his estate and that he could divide it up amongst anyone that he wanted to. he said that he had the new will drawn up and certified. when we were notified, as we were traveling to the funeral, my husband tried to contact the attorney that was suppose to have the will and got nothing but the run around. he was not notified until one and a half days before the funeral. the revised will was found, but not noterized. so everything reverted back to the original will. his wife was the original beneficiary. she died before him. his brother was to inherit next. he also died before him. then acording to the will, the estate was to go to his brothers-in-laws, which there were three of them, in equal shares, or to the survivors or survivor of them living at the time of death. furthermore it is also stated that at the time of his death, that his brother was to be executor unless he died before him. after his brother, only one brother-in-law was appointed executor, my husband's father. he had also died before him. that left no appointed executor. my husband's father left four survivors. my husband's uncle's brother left one survivor. the other brother-in-law left two survivors.
here is the problem; the one brother-in-law that survived him, took control of the estate, appointed a fiduciary and himself sole beneficiary of said estate. all of the survivors of the deceased beneficiaries that were interested in the estate, could not acquire a copy of the will until just recently. the financial records were even harder to get so no one knew exactly what the will said. they under sold all of his estate. did not notify anyone as to the process of the will or it's contents. the question is, who is responsible for not compliying to the wills contents? is it the attorney who had possesion of the will at the time of his death, or the brother-in-law that took it upon himself to elect himself as sole beneficiary or the fiduciary who was in league with him. we are at this time trying to settle this situation. all the survivors want is to get what should be theirs. all i'm asking for, is who is responsible, who was required to notify the heirs. according to the state law in florida, if all elected executors were deceased, that all heirs were to be contacted and a meeting was to be set up to elect a new executor. someone also told my husband that that is the same way in west virginia, which is where his uncle died and is buried. is this true? if it is, we were never notified. also, can we still contest the will? or do we have to sue?

i am very sorry that this is so long, but you need to know the circumstances in order to give me some answers.

You need to be discussing this situation with a probate attorney in West Virginia (preferably in the same county where the estate was probated). It is most unlikely that a West Virginia attorney would even be reading this message board.

(1) When you obtained a copy of the will that was probated, did you get a copy of all documentation that was in the probate file, or just the will? If you didn't get copies of the other documentation, then you need to get it before meeting with or consulting with (perhaps by phone or e-mail) your West Virginia attorney. If you can't visit the WV probate county courthouse in person, then order the copies by mail.

(2) Has probate on this estate already closed or is it still open? Only your attorney can tell you what the time limits are for contesting.

I consulted a reference book that says in West Virginia the executor/administrator is required to file with the court a list of names and addresses of creditors and potential heirs, and this is what he should have done, but he probably filled out the form deceitfully by saying either that the heirs were "unknown" or that there weren't any.

The fact that the new will that you said was drawn up and certified (the will that named your husband sole beneficiary) was NOT NOTARIZED may not even be relevant--by law it might not need to be notarized--but this is something you need to find out from your attorney. If the will benefiting your husband was disqualified simply because it was not notarized, then that may have been incorrect. Seems hard to believe that if he went through the trouble of having it certified that he wouldn't also have had it notarized. Also, 2 witnesses are required--see if that requirement was met.

(3) Do you have an original or a copy of the will that names your husband as sole beneficiary? If so, your attorney will need to see that.

It's hard to even believe that this brother-in-law got away with "naming himself??? sole beneficiary???--how could he get away with doing this without the judge or other attorneys questioning it? It's highly unusual and very cheeky, not to mention unscrupulously dishonest.

You also need to find out, either by looking at the probate file paperwork or by asking the court clerk employees whether or not this executor was required to post bond (and it does look as if WV law does require bond to be posted). If bond was posted, then it is possible that you might be able to recover any monies due by filing a claim with the bonding insurance company. Otherwise, you might have to sue.

Too bad that your husband's uncle didn't give your husband a copy of the will, but it looks like that if you stand up for your rights and expose this executor's wrongdoing, that he is going to pay you back for the theft he has committed. And make no mistake about it--he is the one primarily liable for what has been done here. Your husband was cheated big-time!!

Good luck in getting what is rightfully yours!

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])