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Contesting a Will

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seniorjudge

Senior Member
my nightmare said:
What is the name of your state? North Carolina

I want to contest a will. How can I do this without hiring a lawyer?
When did the person die?

Why do you want to contest?

When was the will admitted to probate?

https://law.freeadvice.com/estate_planning/wills/will_contest.htm


Unless you have lately used the word caveat in a conversation regarding succession, you will need to hire a lawyer because you cannot even begin to imagine how difficult these cases are.
 
She died in 1997. The will was admitted to probate in August of 2005.
I want to contest because the will does not state her last wishes (her being my sister). She had brain cancer and she and I sat down after her second surgery and she told me what she wanted in her will. Her friend did the will and it does not have her last wishes in it. Yes she signed it but at the time she could not read or understand what she was reading. Something else she told me after her second surgery. Another thing is that the witnesses did not see my sister sign the will, they were told not to look at the previous page, just to sign the will as a witness.
The will gives everything to my sister and it specifically excludes her children. My sister would not have done this. She told me she was giving her house to her children. Since her death, the house went into foreclosure and then their friend purchase and resold the house.
 

seniorjudge

Senior Member
my nightmare said:
...The will was admitted to probate in August of 2005....
I cannot even begin to imagine what took y'all EIGHT YEARS to decide to do something.

Anyway, see a lawyer yesterday.

Will contest statutes of limitation are notoriously short (sometimes as short as six months).
 
It did not take me eight years. Brother and brother in law kept telling me that will was destroyed. But when my mother died and my sister and I start proceedings to take care of my mothers property. My deceased sisters will gets filed because my brother purchased my brother in laws interest in my mothers house. That is the only reason they filed it because they know it is not what our sister wanted.

So this battle will be mine alone because the others in the family are not interested because they are benefiting more by staying silent. I know that my sister would not want her children left out and I am fighting for them not for myself. I do not stand to gain anything except justice for my sister.

In her will, it states that if she and her husband and her children die at the same time, she wants her brother in law and her sister in law to receive her estate. She names them both but they are not in laws, they are her brother and sister.
 

seniorjudge

Senior Member
my nightmare said:
It did not take me eight years. Brother and brother in law kept telling me that will was destroyed. But when my mother died and my sister and I start proceedings to take care of my mothers property. My deceased sisters will gets filed because my brother purchased my brother in laws interest in my mothers house. That is the only reason they filed it because they know it is not what our sister wanted.

So this battle will be mine alone because the others in the family are not interested because they are benefiting more by staying silent. I know that my sister would not want her children left out and I am fighting for them not for myself. I do not stand to gain anything except justice for my sister.

In her will, it states that if she and her husband and her children die at the same time, she wants her brother in law and her sister in law to receive her estate. She names them both but they are not in laws, they are her brother and sister.

Sounds like the will is stale. In some states, a will cannot be probated after it is produced long after a person dies. If that is the case, then here is where the stuff will go:


North Carolina Intestate Succession Laws

If any part of a North Carolina decedent's estate is not effectively disposed of by will, the intestate share will be distributed in the following order and manner:

1. Surviving spouse. A surviving spouse is generally first in line to get any assets from the intestate estate. However, the amount a surviving spouse is entitled to varies as follows:

* A surviving spouse is entitled to the entire intestate estate (both real and personal property) if the decedent is not survived by a child, a lineal descendant of a deceased child, or a parent.
* If the decedent is survived by only one child or by any lineal descendant of only one deceased child, the surviving spouse gets an undivided one-half interest in the real property of intestate estate, plus the first $30,000 of personal property and one-half of the remaining personal property in the intestate estate.
* If the decedent is survived by two or more children, or by the lineal descendants of deceased children, the surviving spouse gets an undivided one-third interest in the real property of intestate estate, plus the first $30,000 of personal property and one-third of the remaining personal property in the intestate estate.
* If the decedent is not survived by children or their lineal descendants, but is survived by at least one parent, the surviving spouse gets an undivided one-half interest in the real property of intestate estate, plus the first $50,000 of personal property and one-half of the remaining personal property in the intestate estate.

2. Heirs other than surviving spouse. Any part of the intestate estate not passing to the surviving spouse as indicated above, or the entire intestate estate if there is no surviving spouse, passes as follows to:

1. Decedent's children or the lineal descendants of a deceased child.
2. Decedent's parent or parents equally.
3. Decedent's brothers and sisters or the lineal descendants of a deceased sibling.
4. If none of the above relatives are available, but the decedent is survived by one or more grandparents or issue of grandparents (e.g., decedent's aunts and uncles), half of the estate passes to the paternal grandparents if both survive, or to the surviving paternal grandparent or to the issue of the paternal grandparents if both are deceased. The other half passes to the maternal relatives in the same manner. If there is no surviving grandparent or issue of grandparent on either the paternal or maternal side, the entire estate passes to the relatives on the other side in the same manner as the half portion would.

3. State of North Carolina. If there is no taker under any of the above provisions, the intestate estate passes (escheats) to the state of North Carolina.

North Carolina Intestate Succession Law Fun Facts

* Relatives of the half blood inherit the same share they would inherit if they were of the whole blood.
* Lineal descendants and other relatives of the decedent born within 10 lunar months after decedent's death inherit as if they were born during decedent's lifetime.
* Evildoers take note! Whether or not there is a will, any person who murders or participates in the murder of the decedent is prohibited by law from receiving any of decedent's assets. The murderer is treated as if he or she had predeceased the murdered decedent.
* North Carolina's intestate succession laws can be found in Chapter 29 of the North Carolina General Statutes.

Copyright 2002 - 2005, CCH Tax and Accounting - A WoltersKluwer Company. All Rights Reserved.

http://www.finance.cch.com/pops/c50s10d190_NC.asp
 
I know what the succession laws state. According to our attorney over our mothers estate, NC does not have a statute of limitation for filing a will.

What do you mean when you say stale?

Our attorney over our mothers estate will not work on contesting the will. He wants to handle only our mothers estate. I think it is because it involves a retired county magistrate.
 

seniorjudge

Senior Member
my nightmare said:
I know what the succession laws state. According to our attorney over our mothers estate, NC does not have a statute of limitation for filing a will.

What do you mean when you say stale?

Our attorney over our mothers estate will not work on contesting the will. He wants to handle only our mothers estate. I think it is because it involves a retired county magistrate.
http://www.nccourts.org/Forms/FormSearchResults.asp

Great site for NC probate law.

Okay, let me ask it this way: Why, in 1997, did someone not think of probating the estate?


Q: What do you mean when you say stale?

A: In some states, a will cannot be probated after it is produced long after a person dies.


Our attorney over our mothers estate will not work on contesting the will. He wants to handle only our mothers estate. I think it is because it involves a retired county magistrate.

YOU need to hire YOUR attorney to protect YOUR interests.
 
IN 1997, I did not know that I could have started probate. I thought that it was up to her husband. Plus you would have to know him and the magistrate. If I had jumped into the middle of things, they would have made life miserable for my mother.

Our lawyer was hired to take care of our interest in our mothers estate and he says that our nephews need to take care of their mothers estate.
But our nephews are not interested in taking care of it because all of the property has already been dispersed.

Thanks for your help.
 

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