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Grandma's will

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3

3Bsforme

Guest
Iowa

My Grandmother recently died and in her will it states that all of her assets should be divided equally between the surviving children. At the time the will was written, 1988 she had 3 children. Her son has since died and I am wondering do his children have any rights to his share of her estate?

Thanks,
Angie
 


Dandy Don

Senior Member
If the will uses the phrase "per stirpes" then that would mean the dead child's share passes on to his children--if the phrase is not used, then the grandchildren don't get anything. You may want to consult a local probate lawyer to find out what happens to that money if there is no provision mentioned in the will as to what happens next. Do you understand what the term "SURVIVING children" means?
 
3

3Bsforme

Guest
Thanks for your response,

Would his share most likely then be divided between the 2 surviving children?

I do understand what surviving children means, but I was unfamiliar as to whether the children of her son have any rights to his intended share.

Thanks again.
 

Dandy Don

Senior Member
I assume that that might happen, but it is hard to say for sure without actually looking at the will. It is possible that the will might specify that someone else gets that money.
 
3

3Bsforme

Guest
One more thing,
My aunt sent the children of the deceased son these;

"Waiver of notice of application to relieve estate from administration".

And

"Waiver of notice of probate of will".

What exactly are these? We are to sign them and mail them back to her? What if two of the 4 of his children don't sign them?

Thanks so much again.
 

Dandy Don

Senior Member
Have you all already received a copy of the will? Don't sign the forms unless you have received the will and have a general idea of the total value of the estate or how much you are going to receive.

Waiver of notice to relieve estate from administration is usually done with smaller estates and since she sent these to children who won't be receiving anything from the estate, then it's okay to go ahead and sign since that means she won't have to do any paperwork involving them.

If these children already have a copy of the will it's okay to sign the waiver of notice of probate since that is not necessary.
 
3

3Bsforme

Guest
I am left a little confused with your last post...

You state:

"Don't sign the forms unless you have received the will and have a general idea of the total value of the estate or how much you are going to receive."

When I find out the value, (which is not stated in the will), does the value determine whether I sign the papers or not?

In the last two statements you indicated that it is OK to sign the papers? What are these papers? I don't have a clue...obviously.

Do I/we have any rights to my father's share? If it is pretty much cut and dry that we don't have any rights, then why do we need to sign these papers if we aren't part of the equation? Are these for us to sign so we don't contest the will??

Thanks again,
Angie
 

Dandy Don

Senior Member
I apologize for the confusion. My response was directed to the children of the child who won't be inheriting from the estate. It wasn't exactly clear from your posting whether you were children of the people who WOULD inherit or children of the people who WOULDN'T inherit.

If you are the children of the child who won't inherit, then sign the forms.

If you are a child of the children who will inherit, then you should NOT sign the forms since you will be receiving something from the estate. One of the forms might have something to do with not contesting the estate after a certain time period, probably about 3-4 months, but it should have that time period stated if that applies. How do you expect us to know what is on the forms without you typing the language of the forms in your message?

Value does not determine whether you sign the papers or not, but you should ask the executor for some type of idea about how much you will be receiving.
 
3

3Bsforme

Guest
Thanks for clearing that up for me.

I AM one of the children that will NOT inherit anything.

This is what that area of the will states regarding her estate:

I give, devise and bequeath all of my property of whatever kind and wherever situate to such of my children, Kay...., Lee...., and Karen...., who survive me, in equal shares.

This is what the Waiver of Notice of Probate of Will states:

The undersigned, being of persons entitled to notice of the probate of this will, waive such notice. After a certificate is filed evidencing these waivers and any notices given any action to contest the validity of this will must be filed no more than four months after the filing of the certificate for estates of decedents who die before Jan.1, 2002, and no more than three months after the filing of the certificate for estates of decendents who die on or after January 1, 2002..


The Waiver of Notice of Application to Relieve Estate from Administration states:

The undersigned surviving spouse, heirs at law, legatees, devisees, and other persons entitled to notice of the filing of the application to relieve decedent's estate from administration, waive such notice.

Can you give me a lay man's description of what these state?

Thanks,
Angie
 
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