My grandmother who lived in Maryland passed away about 3 years ago. In her will, it lists my Step-grandfather, father, and uncle as heirs to her estate, with my step-grandfather listed as the personal representative. The will offers no specifics as to how the estate should be divided, so our understanding was that the estate would be split evenly between the 3 heirs. However, that has not been the case. My step-grandfather received all of her assets and has refused to share any of it with her sons. When my uncle pressed for his portion of the estate, the spouse refused to hand any of it over. Because he is not the most competent individual, we offered to let him live with us and hold on to my father's share of the money with the understanding (informal) that my father or myself (should my father die prematurely) would receive the proceeds from my grandmother's and his estates once he had passed on.
Now the situation is a little more complicated. He has developed a relationship with a woman in another state, and talked about buying a house out there using the money from the estate. Worse yet, we reviewed his personal will and found that it does not match the intent of my grandmother's will. Instead of the asset's in his possession being evenly split between my father and uncle, it states that should one of them die, all of the assets would transfer to the surviving heir, completely leaving out half the family. Furthermore, my step-grandfather has spoken about excluding my uncle from his will entirely, leaving open the possibility that my uncle would receive nothing regardless. With this new woman in his life, we are concerned that none of my grandmother's heirs may inherit any of her estate. It seems to us, that his will would not be able to circumvent my grandmother's will, but we are unsure what the best course of action would be to make sure that her will was enforced.
Now the situation is a little more complicated. He has developed a relationship with a woman in another state, and talked about buying a house out there using the money from the estate. Worse yet, we reviewed his personal will and found that it does not match the intent of my grandmother's will. Instead of the asset's in his possession being evenly split between my father and uncle, it states that should one of them die, all of the assets would transfer to the surviving heir, completely leaving out half the family. Furthermore, my step-grandfather has spoken about excluding my uncle from his will entirely, leaving open the possibility that my uncle would receive nothing regardless. With this new woman in his life, we are concerned that none of my grandmother's heirs may inherit any of her estate. It seems to us, that his will would not be able to circumvent my grandmother's will, but we are unsure what the best course of action would be to make sure that her will was enforced.
