will responsibilities

My father passed away in May of 2000. I thought that my older sister was named executor, but there were changes made to the will by Dad and my stepmother shortly he was put in a nursing home. I know that the house was to stay with whoever survived, but that some personal property was to be divided among his daughters. Is there a time frame in which my stepmother should have notified us of the contents of the will? I have checked and it is not on file at the courthouse. Does this make a difference? My sisters and I are not really on good terms with stepmother, so any information I can gather before I have to call her will be helpful. What are my recourses if everything is already gone?

You can go into probate court and seek to be appointed as Administrator of his estate as if there were no Will. The widow is notified and if there is a Will she'll rush into court with it.

But why not ask the widow. And if you do not like the answer, ask a lawyer?

FEB 03, 2001

DEAR OHSIS:

Since the will has not been filed yet, it is possible that the estate is still open (your stepmother may still be in the proceses of paying the estate bills, taxes, debts, etc.) and may not have distributed the personal property yet.

When you talked about how the personal property was to be divided, were you referring to the old will or to the new one? The surviving spouse is usually the person who receives ownership of the decedent's personal property and that person can make the decision as to how the property will be distributed, unless the executor has to decide because the property was specifically mentioned in the will, or her own personal decision if there was no will). Is the executor of the new will your stepmother or your sister?

There is no legal time frame in which you were required to be notified, but if you were named as a specific beneficiary in the will, then she is supposed to notify you by mail whenever she starts distributing the property, as she makes progress in finalizing/closing the esate.

You don't say what state you live in, but there might be a legal requirement in your state or county that the will must be filed within 30 days after a person's death, so you should consult with a local attorney about this. You have the right to ask her to send you a copy of the will, and send her a certified letter that informs her about the sisters' interest in the specific personal property you all are interested in (so that she won't dispose of it some other way).

You may want to consider writing a letter to the probate court at the county courthouse to inform them of your stepmother's failure to file the will, so they can contact her and inform her of the proper procedures.

SINCERELY,

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