wills/stepkids

[lakejo]

My husband and I have 9 kids together. Him...6, me...3. All his are grown and gone. I have 2 left at home. We had wills made up which boils down to all goes to him if I die first, all goes to me if he dies first, all gets sold and split 9 ways if we die together. In the will nothing was left to our kids other than that. My question is...will I wind up in a battle with his 6 kids fince there was nothing actually left to his kids. I have heard that if he leaves them at least $1.00, they cannot fight they will. He did'nt do this in his will. We live in Mo. Can you tell me if this is true. The house we own was purchased by him before we were married, but my name is on it now, other than that we have bought everything we own together and both names on all. We have been married 10 yrs. I need to know what I am up against if he dies first. He is haveing open heart surgery in 2 weeks and some are already acting greedy! Sad but true.
Please help me!

 

[loku]

The reason leaving each kid $1.00 is sometimes done is so that the kid can not argue that the one writing the will did not have a competent mental state, and forgot about his/her children. However, in our wills, the children are mentioned, so that should not be a problem. An attorney would have to know the surrounding circumstances and see the will to judge if there is any other problem or reason they could contest the will.

If you are worried about this, I suggest you have an attorney review the situation. It sounds like you could do well to revise the wills. For one thing, you should somehow provide for your two children who are at homw.