Father died and left all to stepmother

[Nicoal]

What is the name of your state? MO
My father died recently, and a copy of his will states he left all to his wife, our stepmother we never lived with. The will states if she predeceases him, half to us three children and half to her children. The will was dated four months after they married, sixteen years ago.

My father was helping my sister financially dealing with metastatic cancer and she is offering no help with airline tickets, etc at this time. We are devastated that we walk away with nothing and know it wasn't what he wanted. We had a good relationship over the past several years since reconnecting after the affair and marriage. He also owned a business which she keeps, but stated to us that it belonged tohis girls.

He gave my husband a will program last year because he didn't like that format and was using another, suggesting another will which for obvious reasons she did not file. Do we have any legal rights at all?

 

[Dandy Don]

This is a matter of such importance that you really do need to consult with a local probate lawyer to find out what your options are. In most states, it is a legal requirement that the will MUST mention the children, so if it doesn't, you need to find out if you have grounds for contesting it or alternately, perhaps having your attorney negotiate a portion of the estate for the children in exchange for not contesting it.

What is the estimated value of your father's estate?

Who is the executor of his estate?

Do you have a copy of the 16-year old will or have you checked at the courthouse to determine if it has already been filed for probate?

It's a shame that you or your husband did not use the opportunity of him giving your husband the will program to discuss his last wishes. That would have been the perfect opportunity for him to tell you where the will was located, what his wishes were, etc. You also need to discuss with an attorney how practical it would be to try to get access to your father's home computer (or hire a data recovery specialist/computer expert to do it) to access his computer to find out if perhaps he left a computerized will on file there (maybe the wicked stepmother hasn't deleted that yet if she knows how to operate a computer). The computerized will is probably not valid in court, but at least you would have a better idea of what his estate intentions were. Or if it would be possible for someone (someone else besides the stepmother) to search through his papers to see if a more recent updated, signed will could be found.

DANDY DON ([email protected])