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.
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.