Dad's house

[Pinky67]

What is the name of your state? LA-my dad owned his house before he was married. His 2nd wife passed away a month ago. His Will stated that the house will go to her at his time of death. He has 2 kids from his 1st marriage, they have no kids together. She does have 2 kids of her own. It stated in his will that at the time of her death, remarried or no longer living in the house that the house should be sold and divided up at 25% per child. Do we have the right to see what was in her Will? If so, where do I go to get a copy of it? We just want to make sure she didn't change it and left all of it to her kids.

 

[LdiJ]

What is the name of your state? LA-my dad owned his house before he was married. His 2nd wife passed away a month ago. His Will stated that the house will go to her at his time of death. He has 2 kids from his 1st marriage, they have no kids together. She does have 2 kids of her own. It stated in his will that at the time of her death, remarried or no longer living in the house that the house should be sold and divided up at 25% per child. Do we have the right to see what was in her Will? If so, where do I go to get a copy of it? We just want to make sure she didn't change it and left all of it to her kids.

Is your dad still living? Or did he previously pass away. Your wording here was a bit unclear. It would be better if you quoted exactly what his will said rather than your interpretation of it.

 

[adjusterjack]

Yeah, critical question, is Dad still live?

If yes, he can revoke the will and write a new one leaving all his stuff to his two kids.

 

[Pinky67]

Sorry. He passed away 6 years ago.

 

[zddoodah]

my dad owned his house before he was married. His 2nd wife passed away a month ago. His Will stated that the house will go to her at his time of death.

He passed away 6 years ago.

OK...was his estate fully administered, and is the house now in his second wife's name?

It stated in his will that at the time of her death, remarried or no longer living in the house that the house should be sold and divided up at 25% per child.

This is quite confusing. The exact language from his will is important. You wrote that "[h]is [w]ill stated that the house will go to her [the] time of [his] death," which implies that he gave her full ownership. However, if he made provision for what would happen after her death, then it's possible that he only gave her a life estate.*

Do we have the right to see what was in her Will? If so, where do I go to get a copy of it?

I'm not sure who "we" are, but you have no such right. However, if her will is filed with the court as part of a succession proceeding (the Louisiana version of probate), then you may be able to obtain a copy from the court clerk.

We just want to make sure she didn't change it and left all of it to her kids.

As noted above, it's not clear what she received after your father died. If she received full ownership of the house, then she was free to do as she pleased in her own will. On the other hand, if she only received a life estate, then she had no ability to change anything.


* - A life estate is a right to possess/occupy property during the lifetime of a person. The person with that right is called the life tenant, and most life estates are measured by the life of the life tenant. Upon the death of the life tenant (or other applicable person), a person called the remainderman acquires full ownership of the property. This is, of course, an extremely simplified discussion.

 

[LdiJ]

Sorry. He passed away 6 years ago.

Ok, again, your wording was very unclear. From what you said about dad's will, and the way that you worded it, multiple things could be concluded.

1. He left the house to his wife. He also stated what he wanted to happen to the house after she passed away, but that would not be binding if he just left her the house.

2. He left her a life estate in the house, with his children as the remaindermen. In that case, she just had the right to use the house, it was never her house. His kids automatically own the house now.

3. He left her a life estate in the house, with his AND her children as the remaindermen. In that case, once again, she just had the right to use the house, and all of the kids now own it.

Or, the will could actually say something else.

Or, dad's will was never probated, his wife just kept living there and therefore everything is up in the air and dad's will need to be probated now.

In other words, you need to see an attorney with the will and whatever paperwork you can find in hand.