Death Bed Will....

Texas.

Not that it matters....
My father died in 1987 in Austria. He maintained his American citizenship. He and my mother were divorced and he was remarried. When he died , she said he wrote a "death bed" will. From what I understand, in Austria, laws are different and the estate goes to the biological children first, or they are entitled to their share of the estate... before the wife. They had no children. At the time, she offered me money to sign a "release" so the state would not do whatever they do, like probate, I presume. I turned her down, sending a certified or registered letter. The letters I received from her attorney were all written in German! I know they owned property and a home on a river there, together. He left me nothing in the will, that I know of, I never saw it.
Point being, am I by law still entitled to the property when she dies, automatically? Could she sell it, without my knowledge or consent? She still lives there. We do not correspond. I am his only surviving blood heir. I am not a minor. I do not know how to go about even finding out anything in Austria and I do not speak German.

thank you.....in advance.

AUG. 30, 2001

DEAR J. ALLEN:

You will most likely need to correspond with an Austrian probate attorney to get accurate and meaningful answers to your question. If you would like for me to locate one for you, send me an e-mail message that names the city your father died in, his name, and month/year of death. I'll try to find one who is also fluent in English!

You may have made a slight mistake by not trying to decipher the language of the documents you received--it is very inexpensive to have it translated by someone locally. Without knowing what the documents stated, you really don't know what you gave up.

Do you still have the documents you were sent?

How old is his wife now, and do you expect her to die within the next few years or is she in reasonably good health?

I find it hard to believe that your father would not have left you something in his will. At the very least you should have someone in Austria review his probate file to find out exactly what happened.

I'm guessing that you may have been entitled to something under your dad's estate but not under this wife's estate since you are not a direct relative, but you can never know for sure until you hear back from an official expert in that country.

SINCERELY,

[email protected]