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5thstep

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

I was basically abandoned by my mother and father when I was 6 months old. I am now 62 years old.
The court placed me in the custody of my father's sister and her husband. This entire family(two older stepbrothers and one older stepsister) were very abusive to me during all of my growing up years until I could escape in to the Navy at 17.
My aunt did tell me on numerous occassions that I was in the will.
My aunt was very sick for years and I was helping to take care of her for a long time until one day, the older stepbrother by 16 years, made some very hurtful comments to me and I just left and did not go back until my aunts funeral.
This older stepbrother created a horror of a place for me to grow up in and one severe condition I have from it is an emotional disorder, and probably PTSD on top of the PTSD I have from combat in Vietnam.
One of the statements he made to me was "me and Nance took your name off the will!" He was very much aware that statement would destroy me emotionally for quite a while.(Alot of tortureous teasing growing up)
My aunt was very sick for a long time(99 when she passed) and she would not have been in a sound mind for the last 10-15 years.

I do not have the funds to pay an attorney or I would have got one. My aunt and uncle have a 6 acre property and a large bank account. He was a farmer and all they did was SAVE MONEY. My other stepbrother who was 2 years older than me was killed in 1988, so everything appears to have gone to Nance and Ed and they basically disowned me.
Do I have a basis to file for probate?
Thank youWhat is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
 


Dandy Don

Senior Member
You need to at least have a 1-or-2-hour consultation with an attorney (which will not be expensive at all) to have him review a copy of the will and ask you other questions to determine whether you have legal grounds to contest the will or not. Do you know if she had the assistance of an attorney to draft her will? Would the attorney or witnesses to the will have some idea of where the original will is now or has it been destroyed? Is it possible that the stepbrother or someone else was granted a signed power of attorney while she was still alive, that authorized the POA to handle her finances?
 
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5thstep

Junior Member
CYjeff- My aunt died at tyhe age of 99 and I do not understand the rest of your comment?
Shycat: In 1953 during a claim for divorce for abandonment by my mother, my father won a divorce but because he had left to go to the merchant marines, the judge handwrote on the Masters copy that I would be placed in the custody of my aunt and uncle. I am trying to secure that copy now. It is in the microfiche mines.
DandyDon: I took your advice and I now have an attorney willing to work with me. He has not commented about the torturous statements claim, but he is waiting for the Masters Document, Thank you all.
I would still appreciate any feedback on this. I live in Pennsylvania.
 

ShyCat

Senior Member
"Placed in the custody of..." is not the same thing as adopted. With adoption, someone becomes your legal parents rather than just custodians/guardians.
 

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