Step Children's rights

[CathyJ0]

My stepfather passed away 9 months ago. My Mother passed away in 1997. There was no signed will but one unsigned. Leaving 12½% to each of the 4 step children and 25% to two of the biological children. One biological child had been disinherited. Because it was unsigned we were told that it was not legal. The biological children have promised to honor our stepfathers wishes but it is looking like this might not happen. The estate has already gone through probate and they are trying to sell the property. They have decided to give the disinherited child a third of the estate before anyone else receives their percentage, as she will fight for what she says is hers. My mother and Stepfather were married for over 25 yrs. My Mother being the breadwinner and buying the home on the property with her social security settlement. And paying for most if not all of the upkeep and taxes. This is in the state of California. Do we (the stepchildren) have any legal rights here?

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

My response:

You have no entitlement to anything.

IAAL

 

[advisor10]

4-3-2002

DEAR CATHYJO:

(1) Did your mother leave a will and was it probated?

(2) Was the house mentioned in the will?

(3) Have you looked at the title for this home to see if your mother's name was ever listed as the owner and whether the stepfather's name is listed as co-owner or not?

(4) What is the value of the home or property?

Whether or not your mother had a will, her children would have had rights as heirs to a share in her home. If the will was probated, then during that process your names should have been added to the title as legal heirs. If there was no will, someone in the family still should have filed paperwork at the probate court county courthouse to be administrator of her estate, in which the children also should have been declared legal heirs. Of course, if she didn't have many other assets, then that is probably why no probate was done.

Send me an e-mail so I can give you a confidential tip about your situation.

You should talk to a local probate attorney to find out if you children as heirs have the right to open a probate file now for your mother to establish your rights as heirs (if it would be legal and proper to do it now), and whether you could now have your names added to the title as co-owners, which might enable you to share in any profits if the home is going to be sold. I'm not familiar with the law in your state, which is why I'm just offering general comments here.

SINCERELY,

advisor ([email protected])

 

[advisor10]

4-8-2002

DEAR CATHYJO:

If you all do decide to go ahead with the process of getting your names added to the title, it would be a common courtesy to notify the estate that you are doing this, so they won't be hit with an unexpected surprise at the last minute when trying to complete the sale. This is something they should know about in advance so they can properly decide how to split the money received from the sale.

You may also want to consult with a real estate attorney to find out if there is a way to get the names added without having to go through probate court, or a way to expedite that process.

And if the advice I have given turns out to be helpful, please send a thank-you posting to this board.

SINCERELY,

advisor

 

[curb1]

If the stepchildren were adopted, would they have equal rights with the biological children?

 

[prideluv]

The exact same thing happened to me, except I had signed copies of the wills but probate courts would not let us file them since we didnt have the original. Since my mother died first, his children got everything. No lawyer would touch me without a nice retainer so I lost out on my share of a million dollar estate. Step children have no rights.