You need to check with the probate court in the county where he died, owned land or resided to see if there are any documents on file. If so order these and have a probate attorney in the state in question review them.
To discover whether your county makes last wills and testaments available online, visit the official site of your county courthouse. There will typically be a page for searching court documents where you can plug in the decedent's name and any other information that can aid in the search.
Contact the county probate court
The probate court is where Wills are filed after someone dies. To find out if a Will exists, you can call or visit your local county probate court and ask if they have a record of a Will for the deceased person.
Even if probate court proceedings won't be required, the will must be filed at the local county courthouse. Wills are public documents. Contact the probate court in the county where your father lived and see whether there's a will on file. Court clerks should be able to track wills by date of death and name.
You will also need to check that you are indeed named as a beneficiary in the will. You can request a copy of the will from the executor(s) or the probate registry (where a grant of probate has been applied for and granted) to confirm your entitlement.
Erick Penzer: Generally speaking, you're entitled to a copy of the will. The first question, though, is, is there a will at all? Not everybody needs a will and if you don't make a will, then your property would pass pursuant to a statute in your particular state as to how assets pass absent a will.
The timeline is much shorter. California laws, for example, require that beneficiaries are notified within 60 days of the death.
Californian law prohibits hiding or withholding a will without lawful excuse. According to California Probate Code Section 8250(a), any person found guilty of intentionally hiding or omitting a will without legal justification is guilty of a misdemeanor.
Safekeeping by the Testator. While it's common for the executor to hold the original will, some individuals prefer to keep the original will in a safe place themselves. This can be a safe deposit box, a fireproof safe at home, or with an attorney.
Parents specify what rights their kids inherit. Parents with more than one child can distribute everything equally, give percentages, or leave specific assets to a certain child. A parent with one child can leave all their assets to the child.
If your husband died owning no property solely in his name, it likely means there was no legal estate (and no resulting probate or administration action required). There is no need to "prove" this formally to a Court or otherwise; you just will not need to do a formal proceeding.
Reach out to any law firms or employers where the attorney used to work. They might have information about their current whereabouts, making it a useful step to find the lawyer who wrote a will.
A family provision claim is an application that can be made if a person feels that adequate provision hasn't been made for them from their deceased family member's estate, or they have been left out of the Will entirely. Sometimes this is called “contesting a Will”.
Can You Claim Unclaimed Money From Deceased Relatives? The short answer is that yes, you can claim money from deceased relatives. If you believe that you're entitled to money left behind by a deceased relative, then you can make a legal claim to it under the inheritance laws of your state.
A probate court monitors the probate process, which means the probate court can also have an executor removed. You can petition the court to have the executor removed, and once the old executor is removed, the court will find another representative to handle the estate.
In other words, a parent can disinherit a child, leaving them nothing. In some cases, a parent may even decide to leave everything to one child, which can be a source of contention among siblings.
First, the executor will file a petition for probate in superior court. If the petition is granted, the file is opened, and the will is made public. Once that is completed, the executor must notify anyone who is named as a beneficiary in the will.
The bank needs to be notified of the accountholder's passing as soon as possible, as any bank accounts of the deceased remain active until the bank is notified of the death. This typically entails providing the original Death Certificate for verification purposes and the Will, if one is available.
Typically, if a Will exists, the named executor(s) is responsible for locating it and obtaining the original copy. The executor is also the only person who's legally entitled to see the Will before probate has been issued (before the deceased's estate is distributed).
If you can't find a will at home or through your parent's attorney, check with the probate court in the county where your parent lived. Under California law, once a will is located after a person's death, it must be filed with the probate court within 30 days of their passing.
No, the oldest child doesn't inherit everything. While it will depend on state laws, most jurisdictions consider all biological and adopted children next of kin, so each child will receive an equal share of the estate, regardless of age or birth order.