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The Will: by J. Grisham, W. Faulkner, T. Williams

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dburcham

Junior Member
Mississippi

The Will

Chapter 1

In 1998, Mom and Dad had deeds to their property drawn up deeding me and my

brother 1 acre each reserving a life estate for themselves. They deeded the

house, buildings and 1 acre they were on to both of us, reserving a life

estate for themselves. No tangible or personal was mentioned.

Dad died in 2001, intestate. We had a funeral, and life went on. As far as I

know. No personal property or real-estate was distributed or taken. No

probate or any other legal actions were taken.

My first question. From what I have read and been told. I think at the time

of Dad's death, my mom, brother and I were then each 1/3 owners in the

estate, at least concerning tangible and personal property. Not the

real-estate described for the life estate. Is this correct. Should any legal

actions have or still need to be done?

Later in 2001 Mom went to an attorney and had a will drawn up as to how her

and dad's personal effects were to be distributed. The attorney that I think

that may have prepared it will not discuss it with me. I have no copy of it.

Later, in 2008 she made another will with a different attorney, I do have a

"copy" of this will which named me as executor. Mom died November 2014.

My question is, since dad died intestate, did she have the right to make a

will distributing property that belonged to my dad, cars, trucks, guns and

other personal belongings. Did she have the right to make a will for

anything.

Thanks In Advance for your Answers
 
Last edited by a moderator:


FlyingRon

Senior Member
Yes, if your father dies intestate, the stuff in his estate passes in equal shares to the wife and kids. Of course, nothing actually transfers until probate occurs.
Note that some things might be titled in a way that she gets them directly without such division (joint bank accounts, etc..).

The attorney is under no obligation to discuss the will with anyone but his client.

Her will only has any force against things in her estate at the time she passes (i.e., her third of dad's estate plus anything she personally owned).
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
Mississippi

The Will

Chapter 1

In 1998, Mom and Dad had deeds to their property drawn up deeding me and my

brother 1 acre each reserving a life estate for themselves. They deeded the

house, buildings and 1 acre they were on to both of us, reserving a life

estate for themselves. No tangible or personal was mentioned.

Dad died in 2001, intestate. We had a funeral, and life went on. As far as I

know. No personal property or real-estate was distributed or taken. No

probate or any other legal actions were taken.

My first question. From what I have read and been told. I think at the time

of Dad's death, my mom, brother and I were then each 1/3 owners in the

estate, at least concerning tangible and personal property. Not the

real-estate described for the life estate. Is this correct. Should any legal

actions have or still need to be done?

Later in 2001 Mom went to an attorney and had a will drawn up as to how her

and dad's personal effects were to be distributed. The attorney that I think

that may have prepared it will not discuss it with me. I have no copy of it.

Later, in 2008 she made another will with a different attorney, I do have a

"copy" of this will which named me as executor. Mom died November 2014.

My question is, since dad died intestate, did she have the right to make a

will distributing property that belonged to my dad, cars, trucks, guns and

other personal belongings. Did she have the right to make a will for

anything.

Thanks In Advance for your Answers
The real estate is and has been owned equally by you and your brother since 1998. You each have 1 separate acre, plus you own the acre mom and dad occupied 50/50.

Most married people own vehicles in joint ownership so likely all of those would have passed to your mother outside of your father's estate and therefore she would have the right to leave them to whom she chose. The same would apply to any other joint assets (joint bank accounts, brokerage accounts or any other jointly owned asset).

The only property that would have been subjected to intestate division would be property that was held solely by your father. Unless your mother's will unfairly divided that property between you and your brother, there really isn't much point in bucking that.

The valid will is the one drawn up in 2008, since that was a later will.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

PaulMass

Member
Mom died November 2014.
I'm sorry for your loss. I lost my mom in November as well.
My question is, since dad died intestate, did she have the right to make a will distributing property that belonged to my dad, cars, trucks, guns and other personal belongings. Did she have the right to make a will for anything.
Your mother did not have the right to distribute assets of your dad's estate. An argument can be made that dad "gave everything" to mom before his death, leaving no estate. Obviously, nobody can attest to that, but since nobody did anything about it for fifteen years, it may be too late.

What did mom do with the car and trucks. Those items are generally titled, so the owner's signature is required to sell. If both their names were on the vehicles, then ownership passed to mom outside of probate.

Since Mississippi requires an attorney for probate, you should find one and ask him or her. The other attorney is also likely to turn over the old will to the new attorney.
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
:confused: as to why that was the title. I'm calling it false advertising. ;)

(Gail Godwin is a fine Southern writer. Far better than Grisham, maybe better than Faulkner. :cool:)
We gonna battle authors?...LOL

I think that Faulkner is overrated, but I am going to check out Gail Godwin now.
 

dburcham

Junior Member
****Thanks to all for your answers they are helping me. I'm sorry Silverplum about the deceptive advertising, but I thought It might get more attention than: "The Will by Homer". Have you ever ordered anything at a fast food place that looked anything like the advertising? That's deceptive advertising.****

Chapter 2

After mom passed, I spent a month or more looking for the will, I had seen it and knew where she kept it. I also knew that she had named me as executor. The will names people other than me and my brother who are to receive things. I asked my brother if he had the original, he told me all he had was a copy.

I went to an attorney that was recommended by several people. A really nice person. He had done a durable POA for me a few months before. I told him all I had was a copy of the will, but had located one of the witness. At first he seemed more concerned about dad's passing and nothing being done about that. He implied that there might be one or more heirs out there that no one knew about who might be able to place a claim on the estate. Then he got started on the real-estate. I brought him all the deeds that were in the lock box, but I thought I was going to have to dig up an Indian or two for him to be satisfied. Anyway, he got everything started and then called me and my brother in. My brother came in with what the attorney thought was the original will. The will he brought in did not have copy lines on it, and the signature was in blue ink. Any way my brother seemed ok and willing to proceed, but wouldn't give the will to the attorney. The attorney told him to be sure he kept up with it and not lose it. I later asked the attorney why he didn't keep it, and he said that my brother seemed insecure, and letting him keep the will would give him some sense of control over the situation, and it didn't matter anyway. This was on a Wednesday. The next Wednesday my brother called me and wanted to know if the announcement had come out in the paper yet. I told him no, and that from what little I knew about it, that probating a will took 4 to 6 months. He called the next week and the next. Then called me and said he was going to talk to the lawyer and find out what was talking so long. He did, and then informed me that the lawyer was bowing out. I waited a couple of days for the lawyer to call me, but he didn't. So I went to see him. He said my brother and I were not going to get along. He said that my brother had told him that he had a codicil to the will, and that he was too old to go through a probate with people that couldn't get along. Didn't need the aggravation. He would not elaborate on the matter, and handed me the paperwork that I had given him. I asked him if he had a copy of the codicil he said no that he had not seen it. He was cordial but not the same jovial person he had been. He then recommended four or five other lawyers to handle it, and presented a bill.

Thoughts and Comments Appreciated
Dave
 

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