Help! Still working on no will, holographic will saga!

[agnesh]

Hello,

I had written for advice in Feb. and received excellent info. Thank you. However, at this time I am again stuck. My issue is ..... My Father passed away in TX (Jan 2001) "supposedly" with out a will. His widow (not my mother) and her lawyer sent papers to me and my sisters tosign...very open ended document relinquishing all rights, now, in the future, amen. We had told her at the funeral (that we planned and paid for) we wanted nothing to do with anything she and my Father had together. Then we hear about another will in PA. A will involving my Father as beneficiary. We did not sign open ended docs.-and the Tx lawyer was informed we didnot agree and would not be signing. He then sends us a letter saying, since we had no response....we had to file papers in probate court in TX - all of sudden there is a handwritten will! dated in 1984. I have consulted with attnys. in AR (where I live) and TX. In TX. it appears all my father had was the house they shared and I believe he signed it over to his wife 2 weeks before he entered the hospital for last time (questionable deal there-sound mind, etc.! he was very ill) However.....TX lawyer advised me to request papers involving the Estate of our relative in PA including inventory, etc. in order to know what is involved. I contacted appropriate clerk of the courts/regitr. of wills (long process!!) and have those papers. It involves a house and personal property. My Father was one of three beneficiaries. In her (PA) will states my father, or his survivors (there are 5 adult surviving children incl. me) The papers filed in TX by widow do not reflect us, and PA lawyer for Estate (contacted by lawyer here in AR Feb 2002, Father passed Jan. 2001!) did not even know my father had passed away! We know (through lawyer advising me in TX) reputation of widows lawyer is terrible, which we have suspected all along. I am so confused and lawyer in Tx is no longer responding to my mail, even though I have requested to officially retain. Where do we go from here??? Don't we need to file some sort of notice somewhere? The Estate in PA (oh, my sisters and I feel we are entitled to this since it is a part of our family, ie NOT anything his widow had built with him) is worth about just over 100k.
Any adivse you could give would be greatly appreciated! Agnesh

 

[advisor10]

3-30-2002

DEAR AGNESH:

(1) Have you all received ANYTHING from the Texas estate yet?

(2) Is the Texas probate matter still open or has it officially closed?

(3) Do you have your own probate attorney in Texas to advise you about these matters?

I'm not familiar with Texas law but wanted to give my general opinion about your situation.

The estate was required to be probated in Texas because that is where the DEATH occurred.

You all need to make up your mind--first you say "you don't want anything to do with anything SHE AND MY FATHER HAD TOGETHER", and yet you are still asking "where do we go from here?". It's great that you don't want to be greedy by asking for something that you are not entitled to, but there is no way to officially divide the estate according to what your father had when he came into the marriage and what has happened afterward.

The widow and her attorney could have rightfully interpreted your statements to mean that YOU SISTERS DON'T WANT ANYTHING AT ALL FROM THE ESTATE and that is how they are proceeding. It would have been the honest and ethical thing for the attorney to inform you of what your share of this estate would be, but since he is representing the widow's interests, he is not going to go out of his way to be helpful to you all.

The truth is that as legal heirs, you sisters do have an equity share in the home (and the fact that it was "signed over" to the widow has no real bearing on the outcome and it doesn't mean that the home is totally hers free and clear). Not to mention any other assets that your father might have had that they are not telling you about. You need to get your own probate attorney in Texas to find out what share of this home you are eligible to receive so that if it is eventually sold you can get the money for it. You also need to find out what the widow's rights are to this home--how long she is able to live there, and she could be "FORCED" to sell it if you heirs wanted to do so, etc.

At some point during the probate process, they should pay for the expense of having you sister's names added to the home title/deed as co-owner with the widow. Try to find out her intentions--does she want to keep the home and live in it forever, or would she be interested in selling it and moving elsewhere? Your attorney will have to negotiate with the widow's probate attorney or file a petition with the court to notify the court that you sisters want to receive your share of this estate.

Same thing is also true with the Pennsylvania property--get your father's name or your names as legal heirs listed on the title/deed so that your rights of ownership will already be established if the property is eventually sold.

SINCERELY,

advisor

 

[advisor10]

4-1-2002

DEAR AGNESH:

I would like to apologize for the incorrect advice I gave you on my previous posting. If you are not named in the will, then there is no chance that you could get anything from the Texas estate. I was thinking of what might happen if there was no will.

There is a law that children MUST BE MENTIONED IN THE WILL. So if you and your sister's names are not in the will, then there is a chance you would have grounds to contest the will, but doing so is very expensive and time consuming, and might not be worth it if there are not much assets in the estate.

SINCERELY,

advisor
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