Is an Illinois will valid in Wisconsin

[moetdog]

My father-inlaw recently passed away. He was a resident of Wisconsin but his will was drafted and witnessed in Illinois. In his will he left the property in Wis to his ex-wife, and no mention of how to distibitute the assests of the estate; life insurance, etc.
A friend of my father inlaw is the excutor of the will. My husband is not mentioned at all in the will. Can the excutor and the ex-wife legally take all the assests? Can my husband contest the will? does he have a "foot" to stand on? A footnote the ex-wife had been remarried. There also had been a hand written note on the will. What right does my husband have as a living heir? Thank you for your help

 

[advisor10]

4-9-2002

DEAR MOETDOG:

So sorry about the loss in your family.

(1) What STATE did the death occur in? It is that state whose probate law will take priority in deciding how the estate is divided.

(2) What is the estimated value of the estate?

Yes, your husband does have rights as a child to be legal heir of a share of this estate. At this time he does not need to contest the will, but get his own probate attorney (who practices in the same county where the death occurred) to find out exactly what his share is and perhaps to negotiate with the estate executor for his share of it or petition the probate court for his share of it, which would be preferable to the time and expense of contesting the will (takes much time and much legal expense). Yes, it is a law that CHILDREN MUST be mentioned in the will, and only the probate attorney can advise him about what his next steps should be. Only if the estate is not going to give him his fair share should he consider if he can afford to contest the will (please examine the will to see if there is any penalty for anyone who contests the will).

If your husband stands up for his rights, there is no way that the executor and the ex-wife can get all of the assets.

It is somewhat odd/unusual that the father would not specifically mention his son and leave him something in the will. Did they have a fairly good relationship and get along with each other? It sounds like the ex-wife may have influenced her husband to make a will to protect her interests primarily without caring about what the son got. Since there is no specific clause in the will that specifically disinherits your husband, he is eligible to receive a share from this estate.

Don't tell anyone else but your husband, but the ex-wife's rights to inherit may be affected by her divorce status--she might be limited to only what she is named to receive as a beneficiary in the will, with the rights to inherit anything else cancelled because of her status as a divorcee.

Life insurance will go directly to the named beneficiary and technically should not even be included as part of the estate. Son should try to find out from the executor who gets that.

What does the handwritten note say? It may or may not be accepted as legal depending on its contents and how it affects the will.

If the estate executor has the advice of a probate attorney to rely on, the honest and ethical thing to do would be for him to notify your husband of what he is eligible to receive by law from this estate, but since he may favor the ex-wife, I wouldn't expect this executor to be watching out for your husband's interests.

SINCERELY,

advisor ([email protected])

 

[moetdog]

Thank you for your help
My father inlaw passed away in Wisconsin, the estate he left is valued at about $900,000. On his life insurance policies, only one has beneficiaries, and there are no other beneficiaries listed on his assests. The property in question was left to my father inlaw's ex-wife. My husband and father inlaw were estranged for a few years due to the strife caused my father inlaw remarrying, but in the past few years they were working on rebuilding their relationship. I am not to sure what the hand written note said on the will, but it was intialled by my father inlaw. I am no excactly sure when the will was written, I think it may have written after my father inlaw's divorce, and at the time when my father inlaw and husband were still estranged. Family and longtime close family friends have stated that they have heard something different about the will, and that they do not think that the will is correct, which leads me to believe something is amiss. But it is also just hearsay. Should I have my husband get a copy of the divorce papers, the exwife received a nice settlement from the divorce, and she remarried after the divorce.
Again Thank you for your advice