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Legal rights for father in law

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twinglemom

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Massachusetts

Here is my question I am hoping someone might be able to advise on.

3 weeks ago my step mother in law passed away. She had a will that left her house to her children. It does not specifiy contents. She and my father in law had lived together in this house 1/2 the year for the last 7 years. Since her passing, her children are demanding that he vacate the premises and leave all of her belongings untouched. They have even gone as far as telling him that anthing that was purchased jointly while they were married belongs to them as well since they feel it was purchased with their mother's money and therefore he has no claim to it.

Please advise as to what rights he may have until probate goes through.
 


BlondiePB

Senior Member
What is the name of your state? Massachusetts

Here is my question I am hoping someone might be able to advise on.

3 weeks ago my step mother in law passed away. She had a will that left her house to her children. It does not specifiy contents. She and my father in law had lived together in this house 1/2 the year for the last 7 years. Since her passing, her children are demanding that he vacate the premises and leave all of her belongings untouched. They have even gone as far as telling him that anthing that was purchased jointly while they were married belongs to them as well since they feel it was purchased with their mother's money and therefore he has no claim to it.

Please advise as to what rights he may have until probate goes through.
Has probate been opened and the Personal Representative/Executor been appointed?

Did her will include your father, the surviving spouse?

Do you know how exactly is the house titled?
 

lwpat

Senior Member
Your father-in-law can elect to take one third of her estate including the house. He has to timely file with the probate court for this election. For marital property one half is his and he can get one third of the remaining half. I think Mass also has a homestead provision where the surviving spouse can live in the family home for life.

I suggest that he take a copy of the will to an attorney for advice.
 

twinglemom

Junior Member
response to Blondie & lwpat

I have not actually seen the will. Immediately after her passing, her children forced my father in law to hand over the only copy of it that he had. He has since contacted the attorney that wrote the will and asked for a new copy. It will take a few days.

As for probate - We do not believe that it has been opened yet. We have been told that they are waiting for the death certificate in order to do so. The executor is her oldest son who lives in PA.

The house currently has a mortgage in both names and both names are on the deed of both houses. I do not know the exact wording.

I also have since found out that 24 hours after her passing her oldest son made my father in law sign a document stating that he would not contest the will. I feel strongly that this was signed under deress. Not sure what this might do for any potential case.

We are in the process of finding an attorney
 

BlondiePB

Senior Member
I have not actually seen the will. Immediately after her passing, her children forced my father in law to hand over the only copy of it that he had. He has since contacted the attorney that wrote the will and asked for a new copy. It will take a few days.

As for probate - We do not believe that it has been opened yet. We have been told that they are waiting for the death certificate in order to do so. The executor is her oldest son who lives in PA.

The house currently has a mortgage in both names and both names are on the deed of both houses. I do not know the exact wording.

I also have since found out that 24 hours after her passing her oldest son made my father in law sign a document stating that he would not contest the will. I feel strongly that this was signed under deress. Not sure what this might do for any potential case.

We are in the process of finding an attorney
It does not take 3 weeks to obtain a death certificate. Until probate is opened and the court issues Letters of Administration to the Personal Representative, there is no PR/executor. That means no one has the legal authority to do anything, including entering the home. Dad can tell them all to bite rocks for the time being.

If the house is titled JTRS/JTROS (Joint Tenants with Right of Survivorship), the home passes directly to dad without having to go through probate. An attorney can take care of what dad signed under duress as well as dad's other rights.
 
He was on the mortgage and the deed? He needs an atty. These children are wrong. Mom added him to title already...you could pm me and give me the property address and I will tell you how exactly they are held in title. I would love to see a jt. survivorship deed dated after that will or even before.

Call any title co. in your area and get a limited lien search done. It takes approx. 24 hrs. This will tell you the vesting.

Good luck and God bless for looking out for this man.
 

BlondiePB

Senior Member
twinglemom, do not provide any personal information to strangers. :eek:

Property records are public documents. You can find exactly how the home is titled yourself.
 

BlondiePB

Senior Member
He was on the mortgage and the deed? He needs an atty. These children are wrong. Mom added him to title already...you could pm me and give me the property address and I will tell you how exactly they are held in title. I would love to see a jt. survivorship deed dated after that will or even before.

Call any title co. in your area and get a limited lien search done. It takes approx. 24 hrs. This will tell you the vesting.

Good luck and God bless for looking out for this man.
There is no need for the OP to give you personal information or call a title company to hire them.
 

lwpat

Senior Member
There is a find an attorney feature at the top of the page and also the NAELA website has a listing of elder care attorneys. I would suggest an EC attorney since your FIL will have a host of other issues that should also be considered.
 

twinglemom

Junior Member
Thank You

I wanted to thank you all for your generous help. He is going to hire an attorney and get them involved. If I have further questions, I will post them.
 

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