A Will

My father passed away suddenly on Jan 9 2001 he is survived by my step mother and her three children, none of whom are biologicaly my fathers the problem is my father and step mother had not lived together for 12 years. My father lived alone he never divorced her because her name was on the deed to his house which has been in my family for 102yrs and my father was afraid he would have to sell and divide when I returned to NY for the funeral I found out that all of my fathers important papers had been removed from his house by my step sister my extended family are not giving me any information as to my fathers affairs how do I go about finding out if my father had a will and what rights do I have
Thank you Deborah K

Assuming that your father owned anything of value, IMMEDIATELY get a wills, trusts or probate lawyer in or near the county in which he lived.

If the house real estate was held in joint tenacy (or tenancy by the entirety) with his wife (even though they were separated) it probably passed by operation of law to her at his death. If they were tenants in common that's a different story. To the extent he had life insurance or 401k or IRA plans, the beneficiary designation, if any would normally control.

The rest of his estate is what is primarily at issue, including personal papers, personal effects, furniture and similar items (whether stored at the house or elsewhere) etc.

The lawyer would probably suggest that you go in and file a petition in Surrogate's Court as if there was no Will and you would seek to be appointed administrator of his estate. Without a Will you would likely wind up splitting the estate with the spouse, UNLESS there is a separation agreement in which she waived rights.

(If there is a Will that was more favorable to her, she'd get notice and probably come rushing into court to get the Will admitted to probate. If the Will is less favorable, your attorney might find it, and then she'd get less.)

You would also take control of the management of his estate, and could delegate the more complicated tasks involved to an attorney or accountant.

As your situation is complicated by his separation, there is little else I can suggest.



[Edited by ALawyer on 01-23-2001 at 02:24 PM]