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exhusband taking over entire will-please help

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vonniegal

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? TEXAS I posted before on a different thread so will try this one and see if I can get some answers. My daughter passed away in nov. 2005. She was divorced in 2001. They owned home, property and a business. She was awarded the home and property and he was awarded the business to which they both agreeded upon. My daughter changed the home into her name only shortly after the divorce. Ex moved in with her for some time and moved out 2 months before she died. She had a will made in 1996 while they were still married. She never changed it after the divorce. She willed her entire estate to her mother. Mother was beneficiary and administrator. When will was probated, ex shows up with an attorney claiming commonlaw. Mother hired an attorney then. The attorney has done very very little. Now, this was in 2005 and about 6 months after her death, her ex moves into her home, puts everything in his name, home included, claiming he had a court order, which mothers attorney said he never saw any court order and that was the end of that. Nothing more done to find it or whatever. Mother lives over 1000 miles away so can't go into her attorneys office, everyday, if need be. Mother starts digging on her own, trying to find out all the information she can and low and behold, finds out that exhusband has had his name put on deceased's will as the Administrator. Now, something is terribly, terribly wrong here.This has never gone to court to be settled as 2 court dates were set and cancelled. Exhusband wanted a mediation just before the last court date so he could make a flimsy offer which he knew would not be accepted and buy more time for himself as this would cancel the court date which was set for a couple days later which was exactly what happened. This was the end of February and now, not being able to communicate with mothers attorney, no court date has been set, if it ever is going to be set. Where do you turn and what do you do. Mother would like a different attorney but living so far away and not knowing anything about Texas, it is not easy. Does anyone have ANY advice for me????? This was an only child and it is taking me down to nothing as it seems it will never end so I can try to heal. Please, any help or advice on attorneys in Texas would really be appreciated. I will be waiting and thanks for reading such a long message but that's the only way I can tell the story.
 


Dandy Don

Senior Member
The ex-husband COULD NOT have "added" his name to a will as administrator, but he could have asked the court or applied to be administrator. He also could have provided the court with a phony, forged will.

Did your attorney even attend any of the probate court hearings for this estate? Since he is obviously not doing his job, for whatever reason, you needs to hire a new attorney to get to the bottom of this, and she also needs to order a copy of every document in the probate file from the county courthouse (or ask her new attorney to send her that information) so she can understand exactly what has happened with this estate up until the current date. Her new attorney can help her figure out how to proceed. Look at the FIND A LAWYER LINK at the top of the freeadvice home page and you could also do a GOOGLE search using the "name of the city" and "probate attorney" as search terms.

What would the home be worth if it was sold today? Were there any other assets in the estate besides the home?

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])
 

vonniegal

Junior Member
ex-husband taking over will

Hello Dandy Don: Thanks for replying. Yes, my attorney was there for the one probate court hearing. That is all. That is when my daughters ex showed up with attorney to contest the will. That happened about the middle of December, 2005. It's llike my attorney put my file away and forgot all about it. I CAN NOT reach him. I have made dozens of calls and he is either, in court, away from his desk, in with a client or whatever. I ask the secretary to give him the message to call back and he WILL NOT call back. I have no idea what his reason is not to call me. I have gotten along fine with him when this first started. There were no problems. Now as far as the "Administrator" thing, we called the court house and they said he came in with a so called "court order" to take off my name as "Administrator" and put his name on. I asked if I could get a copy and they said I could, so I have ordered that and should come in mail next week. Dandy Don, how can someone, legally, do something like this? This estate has never gone to court to be settled yet and it will be 3 years in Nov. I would think this would be FRAUD. I'm not a person that understands all this court stuff so that's why I write to these forums, hoping to get some knowledge and help as to what is going on and what I can do, if anything. Yes, I'd like to hire a new attorney but living over a 1000+ miles away and not knowing anybody I don't know what to do. I'm 72 and not in real good health since the death of my precious only child and the toll it has taken and still is, is not good. As far as her estate goes, she had a real nice brick home on 5 acres valued over 200,000. Plus a corvette that she was given in her divorce also and he has that too. So, I appreciate your replies and like I said, if I can learn anything from people like you, it helps so much. I have talked to a few attorney's in Texas, explained the situation, but they never call back. Would you say her ex is in trouble for what he is doing and what he has done? Thanks again for replying. You don't know how much I appreciate it.
 

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