Father died without will in Florida-reg his personal property he had before he was ma

[Anni Weisbrich]

What is the name of your state?

State of Florida

 

[Dandy Don]

Please post your message again--you apparently did something improper so that the details of the message do not show up on the board.

 

[Anni Weisbrich]

Thank you for your reply,
The situation is as follows: This was my father second marriage, they got married in 1988. From the time he got married, I was
told that there was a will.

Over the years my stepmother called me her daughter, and
introduced me as her daughter, because she never had any
children.

My father died Sept 15,2002. Within a week she had his ashes
shipped to me. That was a surprise.

I was told by her attorney not to contact her, but before I
received the letter, the day before I spoke with her and
she told me I could still contact her. I wrote a letter to my stepmother reg these items and a copy to her attorney.
I have had no reply.

My father worked on cars, and has a garage full of parts and tools
plus 2, 914 porsche autos. My brother received a letter from
her attorney telling him he has one day, November 6th, to
remove all these things. We live in Texas and my stepmother
lives in Winter Park, Florida. He is not allowed to speak to her
or go into her house. These things that my father had in the
garage and cars are worth close to $7000.00 dollars.

There were several items that belonged to my mother that my
father took to Florida with him. There is a carved coffe table
a hall tree, and a carved box, and I asked for his wedding ring,
and family pictures, also recently we gave him a cowboy hat and
new jeans and shirts, the other clothes I asked her to give these clothes to my brother.

Do I have any rights at all??

Thank you very much,
Anni Weisbrich

 

[Dandy Don]

Have you seen the will? If you haven't, then you need to get a copy of it by calling or writing the probate court/county courthouse for whatever city in Florida the death occurred in.

The will might mention how the personal property is supposed to be distributed, or it might not.

The spouse gets 1/3 of everything. Since this estate does not seem to add up to much, stepmother may be trying to get as much as she can and may have sold off some of the items you are looking for, but at least she was kind enough to let your brother get some of the things that are left.

You would need to take the will to a local probate attorney to get his/her opinion of how to proceed in claiming the personal items, since we can't make a determination on this message board without seeing the language of the will.

It looks like it is going to be hard to negotiate with someone who doesn't want you to contact them--maybe trying to get the items, even though they have sentimental value for you, may be more trouble than it's worth.

 

[Anni Weisbrich]

Florida - Father died in florida

Thank you for your reply-
A couple of things I have a question on:
My stepmother had the home before they got married.
and is Florida a community property state??
If she does not probate the will and papers, how could I
find out if there was actually a will.
Thank you Don,
Anni Weisbrich

 

[bned]

mom died in florida..no will

maybe your stepmother should meet my stepfather...he has done the same thing. There is personal property he KNOWS belongs to my brothers and is refusing to turn it over. According to our attorney there is nothing we can do about it.
My mother had a Hummel collection handed down to her from her great-grandmother and if my brothers or myself want this we have to pay for it.
Sorry to hear about your troubles..you will get through it.
Been there and going through it now.

 

[Dandy Don]

One way you can try to find out if there is a will and if it was prepared by an attorney, is to place a small classified ad in the city where your father died, worded something like: "Searching for the last will and testament of Mr. John Doe of 1234 Easy St., who died January 2002 at age 53. Please call Anni at (222)222-2222 or write to 6847 Carondelet Lane, Miami, FL). If the attorney who wrote the will sees it, he/she will get in touch with you.

You really do need to consult with a Florida probate attorney so that your attorney can dig out the details about this estate that you have been unsuccessful in coming up with so far. If there is no will, the children are entitled to half of the estate, and you don't even have enough information to know what that value adds up to. Stepmother is really trying to trump everybody else by keeping you all in the dark, and if you all don't do anything, she will succeed.

As far as the house, if stepmother is the legal owner, there is not much that anyone else can do to get a share of it, since heirs do not get a share of that.

DANDY DON