Step child claim jumping

What is the name of your state? FL

Hi,

My grandmother died and left my cousin as the executor of her estate. The estate consists of two condos and some stocks. The will was pretty specific and left one of the condos to her deceased husband's children and the other condo to her daughter (my aunt), my brother and me. Now, one of her stepchildren is contesting my cousin being the executor and our ownership of the one condo (as well as trying to increase his share of the stocks). My question is, do stepchildren have legal standing to contest the arrangements when there is a very specific will? It seems to me that her descendants would be heirs at law if there wasn't a will but there is. Do I need to get a probate lawyer or are odds with me that a probate judge will dismiss his claim?

Thanks for your help.What is the name of your state?

since there is real estate involved in Fla-you have to use an attorney for probate anyway. Your cousin needs to be appointed personal representative of the estate(fla's wording for executer) The stepchildren would have to convince the judge to appoint someone else as PR. They can make a lot of noise-but it all takes awhile & the court will usually adhere to the will if since there is one.

New and improved idiot step children (Florida)

Hi, I'm back with another question (actually two or three) about my grandmothers stupid step children. As I mentioned in my previous post, there are two condos in my grandma's estate. The condo I share with my brother and aunt has been distributed to us, so it's away from the clutches of the step-children, but they refuse to take the condo left to them as property and are insisting that the trust sell the condo and distribute the money. Because of this, my cousin can't distribute the stock account and the step-monsters are threatening to sue her which will further drain the stock account covering legal fees. My grandma's will is quite specific and her lawyer says that the property is to be distributed as property. Long story short (too late I know) do they have legal footing to deny the transfer of the condo and how long can they drag this out? I thought that I read that Florida says that trusts are to be disbursed within a year unless all beneficiaries ask for an extension, but I'm not sure.

Thanks so much for any help you can offer.

randrew24 said:

Hi, I'm back with another question (actually two or three) about my grandmothers stupid step children. As I mentioned in my previous post, there are two condos in my grandma's estate. The condo I share with my brother and aunt has been distributed to us, so it's away from the clutches of the step-children, but they refuse to take the condo left to them as property and are insisting that the trust sell the condo and distribute the money. Because of this, my cousin can't distribute the stock account and the step-monsters are threatening to sue her which will further drain the stock account covering legal fees. My grandma's will is quite specific and her lawyer says that the property is to be distributed as property. Long story short (too late I know) do they have legal footing to deny the transfer of the condo and how long can they drag this out? I thought that I read that Florida says that trusts are to be disbursed within a year unless all beneficiaries ask for an extension, but I'm not sure.

Thanks so much for any help you can offer.

Click to expand...

You can read FL statutes at www.flsenate.gov/statutes

Probate is under Estates & Trusts.