Will, I need an attorney?

What is the name of your state? New Jersey
I'm going to describe my situation, sit back & let you tell me whether I will need an attorney or not & if you could tell me why plus I have some other questions.
My parents have a small estate, under 675K, the current threshhold for estate tax in this state. They had their wills drawn by a competent local attorney years ago (before I moved in with them coming from another state), when they were both young enough, in good health, & no one could claim it was done under duress. In their wills they name me executor & sole beneficiary in the event they predecease me. As it were I came to live with them after my mother's illness prompted me to do so. She recovered & we spent many wonderful years together, I helping out, getting the medicines, taking them to doctors visits, etc, while working. A couple of years ago, mom died, & we probated the will, although I don't know why, ( can you tell me if it was necessary?) The probate process here was very simple, everything was transferred from both parents names to my dads, & I helped him change all his accounts, including banks, mutual fund, stocks, savings bonds, IRAs, annuities, etc from both names to his with myself being named TOD, POD, & beneficiary of all accounts.
Once my bothers & sisters got wind of this they began asking pop for money but he refused & now nobody's talking to one another, what a surprise.
In my father's will, if I should predecease my siblings, then they would split the estate, so they are specifically mentioned. But if dad goes before me I am named executor & sole beneficiary & the lawyer who drew up the will said, they could try but they wouldn't get anything. Now I ask you these questions:
Would I need a lawyerif my father dies before me & this scenario went to court or could I represent myself, would I get overwhelmed even though things are so clearly spelled out?
Do I need to or am I required to probate the will ? The accounts are to be transferred to me anyway as I spelled out above.
I've read that judges & lawyers can get together & completely alter what's clear in the will. if that were the case than what's the point in having a will & maybe I should stay away from probate?
Can they find out a will was made for dad simply by knowing one was probated years ago for mom? Did we need to probate mom's will?
If the will's not worth the paper it's printed on, the system being what it is, then why go through the probate process or have a will?
Should I tell dad to take the money out & hide everything?
Should I have dad add something now to the will, a codicile to make things even more clear? I personally don't think that's a good idea cause someone might conclude this was done under duress, when he was much older & I was living with him. It could possibly make things worse. What do you think?
What do you think of this whole scenario?
If you have any questions to make this more clear, please answer as many questions as possible & then I'll answer yours. Thanks folks!

Yes, you will need an attorney to defend yourself in a contested will if you don't ask your father to make some changes.

Your father can write his will to reflect what HE wants--it doesn't have to be the same will that his wife had.

Are you the only beneficiary listed in the will now?

Why don't your father and mother love the other siblings enough to leave THEM something in their will--why should you get EVERYTHING? In order to avoid this estate being contested by the siblings, if your father is smart he will rewrite his will to include something for the siblings, and please have it reviewed by a probate attorney.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])

As stated in my post, mom died a couple years ago,so everything was transferred over to my dad with me as his beneficiary. But to answer your questions they, mom & dad, both didn't care for the way my siblings spent money so in each of their wills, they were mentioned but not given anything. Why do you think with so a focused will that my brothers & sisters could contest & win, you didn't say, & why do you think I would need a lawyer? If he rewrote it now, couldn't they claim it was coerced? Seems like there's always gonna be a way to contest this. You didn't say if the will has to be probated.
What's the point of making a will if it can be contested? Could you answer some of these & my other original questions posed please? Could my father make a video to support his will? Maybe have him read it & time date it, would that be acceptable?

You need to understand that our legal system affords just about anybody the opportunity to make anybody else's life at least a bit miserable. That includes will contests if the "anybody" or "anybodies" would have a legal interest in the estate. Your siblings would have such a legal interest If the situation is as you describe it, one would hope that any attorneys that the siblings approach would look at the evidence and decline to represent the sibs.

And, if the siblings do contest the will, you will almost certainly want to retain an attorney to represent you, an attorney that will adopt a scorched earth policy against the siblings for filing a frivolous lawsuit.

Nobody can tell you whether you will need to probate Dad's will since he is still alive and his asset/liability situation could well change between now and when he passes away.

Pardon me for asking this question & I mean no insult but do either of you Dandy Don or anteater have any specialized degrees in the field of wills or probate law that affords you the knowledge to answer these questions? Have you worked for lawyers or in any capacity in these fields of endeavor so that you know for certain of what you speak? In the state of New Jersey or anywhere else? I saw nothing in your profiles' that would indicate as such. Would you please supply any such information as to the nature of your knowledge on this subject? I ask that you supply some information in this post so that I can accept what you say here as fact. Thank you.

If this matter is so important then you need to be consulting with a local attorney so you will have no doubt about HIS/HER familiarity with state law. You assumed that a New Jersey attorney would be reading this message board and I doubt that would happen.

DandyDon, anteater, moburkes again I ask you without prejudice, what credentials do each you have that makes you qualified to give your responses ? I checked your public profiles & I see none? If you fail to answer I can only assume that you have no credentials. My apologies for my bluntness.

qualified said:

DandyDon, anteater, moburkes again I ask you without prejudice, what credentials do each you have that makes you qualified to give your responses ? I checked your public profiles & I see none? If you fail to answer I can only assume that you have no credentials. My apologies for my bluntness.

Click to expand...

You may assume whatever you like. You are looking for someone to say that your siblings can not challenge the distribution of your father's estate when the time comes. That ain't gonna happen.

The attorney who prepared your father's will told you straight -- "...they could try..." If your siblings have the time, money, and determination, they have the legal standing to make such a challenge. Hopefully, the second part of what that attorney said -- "... but they wouldn't get anything." -- is also true.

By the way, if they decide to contest the will, they also will likely challenge the account beneficiary designations.

Re-read the disclaimer at the bottom of the page. While many people here have specialized knowledge, no one can give advice and no one should claim they are an attorney--even if they are one.

Representing someone is a big deal. Even giving advice in a professional way creates liabilities and risks. Even though you think you are being complete in your description, in almost every "case" on the forum, more facts are necessary. The forum has many knowledgable people, many of who have no qualms about disagreeing with the advice of other members. While there is sometimes a certain measure of crudeness or rudeness or outright stupidity, I am astonished at how good the end result can be. "End result" not as an answer, but as to the direction to take things.

This is because the only answer one can really give is to see an attorney. Legal advice is not something which can be given like this for many reasons. But, take this test. When you see the attorney and get his advice, note how closely it comports to what has been said so far.

By the way, I agree with the previous posters. I don't claim special knowledge or certifications or anything which would make you feel at ease. (Although I do have them.) I only present my words to let you to decide if they are wise or ignorant and to act accordingly.

Sir/madam
I simply want to know by what authority do you gvie advice here? Is it simply the number of responses to posts that makes one a "senior member" or do you have certified credentials in the field, have you written any books on these subjects,etc? You can't expect someone to take advice from someone who has no knowledge of the law, now do you? If you have the credentials, I should think you'd be proud of the fact, why would you hide them? There's already a disclaimer that prevents you from being sued.

What they are saying is true. You WILL need an attorney if your sqabbling squibblings decide to contest the will. They can try and sue you over your TOD and POD accts that is going to be left to you when you dad passes away. The litigation process is very complicated, lengthy, time comsuming, stressfull, painful and it destroys families. You will need a knowledgeable attorney who is familiar with litigation. I am going through litigation right now for a POD acct. my father left me after he passed away. A POD acct is outside of probate but my brother who is PR is still trying to get his hands on it. Anybody can sue anybody for anything. But winning the suit is the problem. So far I have spent $31,000.00 to defend myself. Litigation is very expensive. Litigation is like a marathon. It goes on and on and on until all the motions, pleadings and petitions are used up. Then the only thing left is a trial. Your squibblings can not use any money that will be in probate for a frivolous lawsuit. It will have to come out of their pockets. If I had known that I would be sued for my POD acct I would have retained an attorney long before my dad passed away to protect myself. My father died in Oct 05 and his estate is still opened. The big PR filed his lawsuit against me a year ago and we are still going at it.Do yourself a favor and consult with a litigation attorney before hand to make sure everything is in order. Get ready with your amunition to get ready to fight. It is such a shame how money can destrit families. Good luck.

Someone here said that if the parent rewrites the will to state specifically the reason(s) why they want only one child to get the inheritance, that will prevent the others from being able to get their hands on it. Do you know anything about that?

It is to my uinderstanding that as long as you mention someone in the will and leave them at least a dolllar then they can not contest the will. As long as you have an attorney help you dad update his will he will be the one to say that he was in sound mind when writing it. If I were your Dad I would change the will and leave all his kids a little just so they can't contest the will. Your TOD and POD acct are still open for those squibblings to fight over. Unless your father gives it to you now while he is still alive. Litigation is not a pretty thing to go through. I am a wreck over it and I don't think I will ever, ever recover from such meaness as this.

It used to be the old line of thinking that if you gave them a dollar then you're covered. But I think it's more complicated than that. In my dad's will right now, he has me named as executor & beneficiary. Only in the event that I predecease my siblings, then they are to split the inheritance. I don't know if that's quite enough or if he should go back & specifically mention the reason(s) why he wants it so. Thought maybe you might know. Of course a shrewd lawyer represnting them could always twist things to look like now at his tender age I forced him to this so that he was under duress. I'm not sure if it's better to leave things alone. I'd love to talk to you further about both our situations, if you'd like to email me, but i didn't see any email under your public profile. If you want to, check mine by clicking under the 'qualified' for my email, or send me a private message.

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