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Does estate go into probate if it is all assigned to someone in a will?

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joehoax

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? ca

my aunt is trying to fight to get personal belongings and such of my grammas who recently passed away. My gramma has a will that is almost 25 years old. In it she lists her son as the executor and the sole beneficiery of her entire estate. It also goes on to say anyone who trys to fight it will get nothing.

If she tries to fight it and send it into probate, does the will prevent that from happening if it states her son gets her entire estate?
 


tranquility

Senior Member
If the son is listed as the sole beneficiary, I don't see the risk of challenging the will. However, there are no facts here which show a point of challenging either. Wanting other people's inheritance is not a cause of action.
 

anteater

Senior Member
What is the name of your state? ca

my aunt is trying to fight to get personal belongings and such of my grammas who recently passed away. My gramma has a will that is almost 25 years old. In it she lists her son as the executor and the sole beneficiery of her entire estate. It also goes on to say anyone who trys to fight it will get nothing.

If she tries to fight it and send it into probate, does the will prevent that from happening if it states her son gets her entire estate?
I think that you have a misconception concerning probate. Probate is the legal process for transferring a deceased's assets to the beneficiaries named in a will or by the state's descent and distribution statutes if there is no will. (Assets that are in a trust, or jointly owned with right of survivorship, or covered by a beneficiary designation, etc. would not be covered by probate.) By itself, a will does not mean much. Probate is what gives "legal teeth" to the provisions of a will.

In theory, Grandmother's son should be opening probate and submitting the will to the court to obtain the legal authority to distribute the assets. However, realistically, if Grandmother only owned non-titled personal property, the son might be able to skate through and your aunt's only recourse would be to petition the court to open probate. Whether that would be worth it is for her to decide.

But, as tranquility said, you really have not mentioned anything that would cause Grandmother's will to be invalidated.
 
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