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Stepmother destroyed Will.

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butterflyhigh

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

My father died 7 months ago. Over his lifetime he has amassed apx. 1 million dollars in cash, accounts and personal property. His wife (not my mother) has said that he did not have a will. I have spoken to two different people who said that Dad told them that he DID have a will, my sister and I saw a will apx. 10 years ago. He was absolutly not the type of person who would not have left one. He was diagnosed with incurable Cancer 10 months before his death and was very busy tying up loose ends. Many of us think that he wrote a will himself on his home computer and put it in his home firebox, which is what he did with the one that I saw 10 years ago, and that my step mother destroyed it. She is that type of person.
What is our recourse? She did not take his estate through probate, she bypassed that by saying her personal property did not exced $20,000. Is there anyway a court can step in and seize his computer to look for his will? Is this possibly a criminal matter? My sister and i don't care about the money...but we think my father's voice should be heard concerning what he wanted to do with his life's acculmination.
Thanks in advance for your advise.
 


anteater

Senior Member
No, a court is not going to just "step in" and seize a computer. Even finding a file on the PC won't mean much.

You can petition the court to open probate and ask the court to compel production of any will. Of course, she can always reply that she knows nothing about a will. You could then proceed to with an intestate probate. Which may get nowhere if father and stepmother held assets jointly with right of survivorship or stepmother was a designated beneficiary on father's accounts.

I believe Ohio allows the maker of a will to deposit it with the probate court. Have you checked?
 
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Dandy Don

Senior Member
Did your sister see a will that was printed and signed ON PAPER?

Do you have any idea of the names of his friends or relatives that he may have asked to be witnesses to the will?

Do you know the name of an attorney he may have used to draft the will? And you have curiously not mentioned whether father ever TOLD YOU SPECIFICALLY that he had a will.

Consider putting a small classified ad in the local newspaper (cost would be a few hundred dollars) that asks "Anyone who knows of the existence or location of a will for Mr. John Doe (who died on DATE), please call such and such phone number or contact me at street address/city/state/zip code").

Is it possible that wife could have gotten her husband to sign a power of attorney to give her authority to handle all of his assets?

Open up probate so you or your attorney will at least have legal authority to see how his bank account and other assets were handled to see whether her name was on the account as joint co-owner or not.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])
 

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