Validity of Will

[tmbrake]

My father passed away in May. Prior to his death, he informed me and my nephew that he had new papers drawn up. We unfortunately do not know where they are. My stepmother and her 2 daughters (not belonging to my dad) have produced a will from 1988 that is not notorized, it was witnessed by 2 people. It has numerous misspellings. My brother is mentioned in the will but, his name is not correct. He has also been deceased since 1996. There are other words misspelled as well. How does it work if the will produced is incorrect according to my fathers wants years after will was written. We have had no access to his belongings. Prior to my stepmother informing us of the will she had, I applied for temporary administrator to be able to be present when his safe deposit box was opened. That did not produce new papers either. My stepsister is now taking me to court to say my letter of administration was illegally obtained. I applied through an attorney with the majority of the known heirs notorized signatures. help

 

[advisor10]

JUNE 23, 2001

DEAR TMBRAKE:

You forgot to mention that this is in the state of Georgia, and you also didn't mention whether or not you were successful in hiring a safecracker to get access to the safe in your father's home (where you thought the will might be).

With the irregularities you describe it is possible that this will that was produced will not be accepted by the probate court. Did you have an attorney there at the hearing to represent you and your objections to this will?

Was this will prepared by an attorney or not?

Her objection to you being named as administrator does not seem to be very strong and it looks like a weak, unsuccessful argument and false about it being illegally obtained (you had no choice but to file for administrator if they had not produced a will within the proper time period).

Hopefully this will is going to be declared invalid and then the estate hopefully will be divided up according to intestate law, where you will at least be able to get a share of the estate. Is there any indication as to how valuable the estate is?

SINCERELY

[email protected]

 

[tmbrake]

Yes, this is in Ga. My stepmom scheduled the safe box at the bank to be drilled open. Her name was on it but she had no key. The letter of administration enabled me to be present at the inventoring of the box. She attempted to cause a really big scene at the bank about me getting to be present. It did not work. I was given a copy of the will at the inventoring. the will that she threw at me across the desk from the safe box because they already have one like is the original. Now she is asking the court to demand that I file it. I did not know this until i read the papers from their attorney.I have not received a hearing date from the court yet, but yes i do have an attorney now. This will has no mention of an attorney. There are 2 witness signatures from some form of secretarial service that my stepmom knew at the time. I found the number of one in the book, her husband said she did work for the service at the time.She never returned my call. The estate is not huge. my dad had several accounts and cd's at the bank, van truck, lots of personal stuff. The most important thing to me is his personal things and family heirloom. They are not many, and only have sentimental value to us, not them.(pictures, personal items i bought him,things that were important to him. I just was going to walk away rather than keep putting myself through this if the box did not produce new papers, but know she is dragging me into court. I will now defend myself and what my father told us in court if only to continue to have good intentions. They know their reason behind this unnecessary chaos and I know mine, I will sleep with a clear conscience if I survive this physical, emotional, mental turmoil and figure out how to get my life back without my dad ( best friend)It is like walking backward with my eyes closed all the time. Thanks for your time.

 

[advisor10]

JUNE 25, 2001

DEAR TMBRAKE:

So sorry that you have to deal with such a needlessly mean stepmother. There is no real reason for her to be mad at you--you are only trying to claim what is rightfully yours or at least find out about it. It is very suspicious that she is objecting to your actions--if she is doing everything properly and honestly, then she should have nothing to hide.

Has the will been filed for probate yet? Are you being informed about what the scheduled court date hearings are? Even though the estate is not large, any natural children of the decedent are entitled to a share of the estate (if there is no will). Even if the will is accepted, there are detailed provisions about who must be mentioned in the will (ask your attorney to look at Georgia Law Section 53-2-76

Whenever the court decides who the executor or personal administrator is, it is that person who will be deciding how the personal property gets disposed of. Hopefully, she hasn't sold any of these items yet, so maybe there is a chance you can get some of them back. Just be patient and eventually things will work out.

SINCERELY,

[email protected]

 

[prideluv]

I hope all works out for you. I would like to hear how it does. I have had no luck with the courts and dealing with step family and the courts in many states do not even recognize copies of wills or step children.
I hope to educate many people so that they can do things correctly and get their true wishes carried out and at the same time, get the probate courts to update the laws to recoginize blended families.