Inheritance to husband or children?

[jrw14493]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Washington

Here's the scenario:

Cindy owns the mineral rights to land in North Dakota. She was approached by the Empire Oil Company who proposes to drill on the land and in Cindy’s will, it states that whatever is found, the value of what is found goes to Cindy’s children. Cindy later on has 8 kids, one of them is Judy, and lives a happy life and dies. Decades go by and then Judy dies in 2004 and is survived by her 3 children, a husband and a will. In Judy’s last will and testament, the assets (jewelry, stocks, bonds etc.) were divided amongst Judy’s children as stated in the will. All marital assets (cars, house, etc.) left over was to go to her living husband, Sean.
Years go by and here were are in 2010 and the executor of Judy’s will (not her living husband, Sean) gets a call from Empire Oil Company stating that they are about to begin drilling on Cindy’s land. Because Judy is deceased, and is named as a beneficiary to whatever they find on the land, Empire Oil Company needs a copy of the death certificate and her last will and testament to figure out where to distribute the money to. It of course states that everything left over goes to Sean.
So, I ask, are inheritances considered a marital asset or do they go to the next of kin to Judy? Once the mineral rights have been in a family for a certain amount of time, are they considered to be property of the family, and not someone who marries into the family (Judy’s living husband Sean)?

Thank you for any help that you can provide.

 

[BlondiePB]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Washington

Here's the scenario:

Cindy owns the mineral rights to land in North Dakota. She was approached by the Empire Oil Company who proposes to drill on the land and in Cindy’s will, it states that whatever is found, the value of what is found goes to Cindy’s children. Cindy later on has 8 kids, one of them is Judy, and lives a happy life and dies. Decades go by and then Judy dies in 2004 and is survived by her 3 children, a husband and a will. In Judy’s last will and testament, the assets (jewelry, stocks, bonds etc.) were divided amongst Judy’s children as stated in the will. All marital assets (cars, house, etc.) left over was to go to her living husband, Sean.
Years go by and here were are in 2010 and the executor of Judy’s will (not her living husband, Sean) gets a call from Empire Oil Company stating that they are about to begin drilling on Cindy’s land. Because Judy is deceased, and is named as a beneficiary to whatever they find on the land, Empire Oil Company needs a copy of the death certificate and her last will and testament to figure out where to distribute the money to. It of course states that everything left over goes to Sean.
So, I ask, are inheritances considered a marital asset or do they go to the next of kin to Judy? Once the mineral rights have been in a family for a certain amount of time, are they considered to be property of the family, and not someone who marries into the family (Judy’s living husband Sean)?

Thank you for any help that you can provide.

This reads like a homework problem. Is it?

 

[jrw14493]

Going back and reading it, it does but it's actually not. The names in this situation have been changed and Cindy in this is situation is actually my great grandmother and Judy is my grandmother. My step-grandfather who was married to my grandma and has since moved out of state and gotten re-married is trying to get the money from Empire Oil Company (actual company Empire Oil Company - Oil and Gas Land Services, Lease Aquisition, Right-of-Way, Curative and Due Diligence in the Bakken Shale and in Montana and North Dakota actually based in North Dakota) should they strike oil instead of it coming to my mom and my aunts and uncles because of the catch-all line in my grandmother's will.

I put it into a story problem because of it's complexity. I didn't want to make it too complicated but give enough background to hopefully have someone see what's going on.

 

[anteater]

Judy's will controls the disposition of Judy's assets.

 

[Dandy Don]

The slighly complicating factor here is that the royalties SHOULD have been handled by the executor of Cindy's estate, but they weren't handled because executor apparently did not know about this asset. For guidance, you may want to consult a local probate attorney about this so that he/she can research case law to see what has happened in similar situations to yours (there is probably no Washington attorney reading this message board). Or you may want to discuss this with an attorney who specializes in oil/gas royalties. It seems like it would be a very lucky fluke for everything to go to Sean but you need to check out your options first to make sure whether the other heirs have valid grounds or not to claim this.