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I am a missing heir. What can I do 1.5 years after the death?

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pepurr

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida

My father died in December 2006. I was his first child from his first wife. He had married after divorcing my mother and had two children. One of the children changed his last name to that of his mothers maden name after dad divorced her. (May not be relivant)
I had a disaggreement with my father and had not contacted him for a number of years. I wanted to patch things up and tried to contact him and found he had died.
Am I entitled to anything from his estate given the fact I didn't know of his death till after one and a half years had passed? Did they (whoever administered his estate) have an obligation to locate me as a missing heir, and if they couldn't find me, set aside a portion in trust, untill I could be found?

If I am entitled to anything, what am I entitled to if he had no will? What if he had a will and I am excluded?

He lived in the state of Florida.
He had two wifes and divorced them both.
He had two children from the first. Me (I was 1st born) and my deceased brother.
He had two children from the second wife. Both still living.
 


nextwife

Senior Member
Have you checked probate? WAS there an estate? A will? Intestate estate? This would have been filed in the county in which he lived. In my work, I see a LOT of insolvent estates, in which their house, contecnts and a joint savings and checking account was about all they had.

Sometimes there are no assets subject to probate. Before even wondering about his "estate" distribution, you might want to research if there was one. However, sounds like you and dad had been out of touch for a long time. If he had a will and did not name you, you would not have been entitled anyway. If there were no assets subject to probate, again, you would not have been entitled to anything.
 

Dandy Don

Senior Member
If you had been left anything you would have been notified by now.

If you know what county he died in, do a GOOGLE search online for that county and you can find a website for that county's court clerk or probate court records online. Nearly all of Florida's counties have online websites. You will have to look at the probate file to see how the estate was handled and then if there are any questions consult a probate attorney.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])
 

nextwife

Senior Member
If you had been left anything you would have been notified by now.

If you know what county he died in, do a GOOGLE search online for that county and you can find a website for that county's court clerk or probate court records online. Nearly all of Florida's counties have online websites. You will have to look at the probate file to see how the estate was handled and then if there are any questions consult a probate attorney.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])
Actually, wouldn't probate have been filed in the county in which HE RESIDED, not in which he died?
 

momm2500

Member
Have you checked the abandon property web site for where dad resided? Check the state's site by typing in his name and even your name.
 

Dandy Don

Senior Member
YOU are the one who is correctly stating/misinterpreting things, BLONDIE (that was something you incorrectly assumed!). I never said that images could be retrieved online (although that is possible in some instances). I said that information about the probate court records is available online, meaning he can do a search on the decedent's name to see if a probate file exists.
 
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Dandy Don

Senior Member
pepurr, some county courthouses require that list of names and addresses of potential heirs be filed in the probate file, so you may want to check there to see if your name is mentioned with the other heirs. I don't know for certain if they do that in Florida or not but you can ask the county clerk/court clerk if that is done.
 

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