Should I contest?

[Texas Pooh]

Dandy Don,

Why is it so inconceivable that OP's father simply wanted to leave everything to his WIFE??

If she was not the step-mother, there would be no question that she should inherit the estate before the children.

I'm frustrated (trying to continue to be polite, anteater!) with your continued suspicion of all stepmothers. In this case, the step-mother was married to the man for more than 20 years. OP's father simply treated like the person she was - the WIFE.

There is nothing to contest.

 

[Nickk]

I spoke to a very good (has successfully contested many estates) attorney in the county my father resided in and he will review the will this afternoon but has basically said there is nothing to contest. He, too, has a step mother and fears of this exact outcome someday for himself and was very compassionate, wishing there was something but in the end it reallly doesn't seem to be. If anything comes up I will post, but highly unlikly.

Thank you for all your input, in the end I did put out the $$ for a consult and it has ended the way I expected (which is why I posted here instead of wasting the cash) but in any event I know for sure and am confident in what I was told due to the number of references the attorney had provided.

 

[anteater]

Despite my blasts at the other poster, that is a shame.

Try to repair relations with her and hope that she is sincere.

You don't have any background in estate planning, do you? Unless stepmother is a real spender, there will be a nasty estate and PA inheritance tax situation when she passes away, unless she begins doing some planning.