Our father left a will saying he would leave everything split 4 ways, two kids and two stepkids. His wife survived him. She has always said she would split 4 ways. Well, she just passed away, and it turns out that someone thought it was a good idea to sell a terminally ill woman a 15-year annuity. She wanted some monthly income for the remainder of her life, even though she knew she didn't have long to live. She designated her two children as beneficiaries. Bam. My sister and I are disinherited. Her will declares that the estate is to be divided equally among the children, but the annuity takes over half the estate outside the will. Her kids advised her not to take out the annuity, but no one thought to caution her to be careful that she made all 4 children annuity beneficiaries. I don't know if I can ever know whether or not she really meant to disinherit me.
Should I try to find out -- dig further into this? If I can accumulate statements and evidence that she never meant it to be this way, would it matter in court? We don't really want to sue. I doubt there would be much left after legal fees, but we are talking about close to 100K at issue here. To make matters worse, the estate lawyer sent out a letter proclaiming all four children equal beneficiaries of the estate, then had to send out a "corrected" letter after discovering the annuity. Ouch. It was like winning the lottery, then discovering someone had made a mistake.
My sister is on good terms with the SOB who sold stepmom the annuity, but as she pointed out to me, he has nothing to gain by being forthcoming with answers. Either he screwed us out of our inheritance, or he has to tell us that our stepmom was knowingly being vindictive.
Should I try to find out -- dig further into this? If I can accumulate statements and evidence that she never meant it to be this way, would it matter in court? We don't really want to sue. I doubt there would be much left after legal fees, but we are talking about close to 100K at issue here. To make matters worse, the estate lawyer sent out a letter proclaiming all four children equal beneficiaries of the estate, then had to send out a "corrected" letter after discovering the annuity. Ouch. It was like winning the lottery, then discovering someone had made a mistake.
My sister is on good terms with the SOB who sold stepmom the annuity, but as she pointed out to me, he has nothing to gain by being forthcoming with answers. Either he screwed us out of our inheritance, or he has to tell us that our stepmom was knowingly being vindictive.
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