husband included in biological fathers will

We live in MI. Biological father lived in IN. Sunday we received a phone call from the executor of the estate notifying my husband(37) that his "father" had passed away a couple weeks ago, he and one of four of"father's" brothers were the only names in the will and everything was to be split. "Father" passed in Georgia, and execuor is waiting for death certificate to arrive. We have not heard from the one brother, nor can I find any phone listing. My husband is very surprised/skeptical about this, considering the "father" has not been in his life since age 5. The executor seems very eager to settle all of this, apparently "stuck in the middle of this", was his comment on the phone. There are specific items left to husband and others are to be divided. There is a 3 bedroom brick house w/ extra large lot in nice subdivision & pole barn. We will be meeting with the executor this week for husband to read the will and find out details.
?-How do we find out about insurance policies(house,life,vehicle)
?-It appears that items have already been removed, is there any way to obtain a list of "father's" belongings?
?-We know nothing about these people, nor about wills & estates, we would really appreciate some advice on what to do and how to handle this situation?
Thanks, aquapete

If your husband was the deceased's biological child, and even if he has been out of your husband's life for years (at least if there was no adoption by another - and in some cases even if there was) that does not mean your husband would not inherit.

The laws of the biological father's state of residence determine who would inherit without a will (and if there is land involved, the laws of the state in which the land is located determine who gets the land).

You may want to consult a lawyer in the area in which the father lived and have him or her represent your husband's interests. Be careful not to look a gift horse in the mouth.

AUG. 21, 2001

DEAR AQUAPETE:

I'm sure your husband was VERY surprised--most likely his father felt guilty near the end of his life that he had not treated his son very well and wanted to make up for it.

You have the "right" to ask the executor questions about the life insurance (although it is technically not considered part of the estate, but separate from it), and vehicles, etc., just out of natural curiosity, but the executor is not necessarily obligated to give you that information. There is much business in the estate to be taken care of, and I'm speculating that there is probably not much left in the way of cash or liquid assets, probably just a lot of real estate or personal property that needs to be handled (by a lot of paperwork), hence, his comment that he is "stuck in the middle of all this".

It may take 1-2 months or more for the entire probate process to be handled through the courts. You should at least ask for a copy of the will (just to see what it says) but be advised that you may not necessarily receive everything that is bequeathed to you until it is determined (after bills and estate debts are paid) that the estate has enough assets left over to begin making distribution to its heirs.

About all you can do right now is wait for the probate process to be completed, and be sure the executor knows your address and phone number when it is time to receive the title to the house or whatever it is you are getting.

The executor can probably give you the address and/or phone number of the other brother, or if he hasn't been located yet, any private investigator can find him for a fee of between $50-$100.

The fact that the executor is "waiting for the death certificate to arrive" seems somewhat flimsy, since that can usually be obtained immediately by contacting the funeral home, but anyway, I don't want to second guess his excuse, since it might be true.

At some point, I don't know whether the executor will have an appraiser come in to value whatever items are left in the home, or whether he will just hold an "estate sale" or garage sale, or whether he will just let you have access to the home to pick out whatever the decedent wanted you to have.

SINCERELY,

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