Wierd question

[quakerboy]

Can someone withhold a will? Say, for instance, someones Grandma passes on, and person A has the will, and person B is a grand daughter, can they deny any viewing of the will?

[Shell Beau]

1. The will should be filed for probate. It becomes public record once

the person is deceased.

There should be people there who witnessed the will. So the person who has the will shouldn't be the only person who knows about the will. That would be illegal I believe. The will has to be probated.

[quakerboy]

2. Its an odd thing

We dont know when or how this will was made. There was an older will naming the elder statesman of the family executor, but the daughter and son apparently got themselves named in the new will. Its unknown if there was a lawyer or any public filing of it, or if the only copy was in the home under the control of the daughter.

Its also wacky in that the daughter called the grand daughter to ask her to contact a lawyer to help with probate, but then when she called back to say "ok, I have someone, now they need the will to go any further" the will was suddenly misplaced and no one knows where it is.

And my involvment is being married to a cousin of the grand daughter. Apparently I am the font of all wisdom in the family, so I got asked. I have no clue how this crap works. And there's a lot of distrust in this family. Their Grandpa was apparently involved on the wrong side of the Enron meltdown, just to give a clue into the family ethic.

[Shell Beau]

3. Well if the will cannot be "found", there are heirship laws obviously that will go into place.

Anyone, though, that isn't in the line of heirship but was named in the will, will get screwed. Was there a lawyer present for execution of the will? Or any subscribing witnesses that you know of? I would contact anyone who you think knew she had a will.

[Orrex]

4. It's not a balloon, it's an heirship

[quakerboy]

6. Ha

this situation needs some levity. I have fucked up family but at least we are honest in our twisted brokenness.

[Orrex]

8. I admit that I only posted the joke because I have no idea what the right answer might be

So I figured I'd go ahead and remove all doubt, rather than simply being thought a fool. :crazy:

[quakerboy]

5. I am operating under a lack of info

Were there witnesses? Don't know. a lawyer? Don't know. filed anywhere other than above the cabinet in her room? Don't know. The only person who might know and be trusted to say is the aforementioned "elder statesman" who apparently got cut out of being executor, and who has made her will to be completely excluded from any family participation well known, complete with "dead to me" announcements. And given the rest of the families residence in California, and her living in South Africa, she should have relatively little trouble enforcing her "I'm done with you" policy.

I just hate to see the great grand kids screwed. The grandmother stated publicly that there was going to be trusts set up for the 2 great grands college. Other than that, fuck it all. Money ain't worth being involved with any of the grandmothers children for any longer than required by law. Wierd. Grandpa was a bastard, grandma stayed out of it all, the kids are all evil coniving fuckers, the grands all seem to have come out pretty sane (excepting the bipolar one), and the great grands are too young to really consider much other than potential yet.

[Shell Beau]

7. Well if there is a known will, then it will come out sooner or later.

I am not a lawyer, but I work with estates all of the time. It is part of my job. Estate laws differ from state to state, and without a will, the state heirship laws come into play. Hopefully, the will turns up. That is only fair to the deceased person. If someone is hiding the will, I do believe that is illegal. Not sure how to prove that, but with what I know, the will most always turns up. I hope it does, so that no one gets screwed.

[quakerboy]

10. Me too

I think the main fear is that the money may be gone by the time any will comes out.

[rug]

9. If you're sure she has the will you can force her to produce it.

Consult a lawyer but this is from the Oregon Probate Law.


112.810 Duties of custodian of will. (1) Any person having custody of a will:

(a) Shall deliver the will to the testator upon demand from the testator, unless the person having custody of the will is an attorney and is entitled to retain the will pursuant to ORS 87.430;

(b) May at any time deliver the will to the testator;

(c) Upon demand from the conservator, shall deliver the will to a conservator for the testator;

(d) Upon demand from the attorney-in-fact, shall deliver the will to an attorney-in-fact acting under a durable power of attorney signed by the testator expressly authorizing the attorney-in-fact to demand custody of the will;

(e) May deliver the will to any attorney licensed to practice law in Oregon willing to accept delivery of the will if the person does not know or cannot ascertain, upon diligent inquiry, the address of the testator; or

(f) Shall deliver the will to a court having jurisdiction of the estate of the testator or to a personal representative named in the will within 30 days after the date of receiving information that the testator is dead.

(2) With respect to a will held in a safe deposit box, compliance with ORS 708A.655, 722.660 or 723.844 by the financial institution, trust company, savings association or credit union within which the box is located shall be deemed to be compliance with the requirements of this section. <1989 c.770 §3; 1999 c.506 §3>

http://landru.leg.state.or.us/ors/111.html

[quakerboy]

11. This is in California

But we know its there. Grandma told granddaughter where it was hidden in the days before the end. it is newly missing since her passing on sunday. Unless you want to believe they misplaced a will that determines the disposition of the dwelling in which the daughter and son both live in 3 days.

[rug]

13. The California Code is more complicated but the Court can determine what happened to the will.

Contact an attorney in that jurisdiction asap.

6124. If the testator's will was last in the testator's possession,
the testator was competent until death, and neither the will nor a
duplicate original of the will can be found after the testator's
death, it is presumed that the testator destroyed the will with
intent to revoke it. This presumption is a presumption affecting the
burden of producing evidence.

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/calawquery?codesection=prob&codebody=&hits=20

[quakerboy]

12. What is a Testator?

[rug]

14. The person who makes the will, or testament.