help with will

I had an aunt that died a couple of years ago. She had no children of her own , but 7 neices and myself her nephew. She had always said her estate would be divided between us all. My sister says she was appointed by her for the executor of the estate. Upon her death my sister also announced that my aunt had changed the will and left everything to her. The rest of us never believed this was true but no one ever steped foward to question it until we heard the estate was around a million dollars. I called the county where my aunt lived and they said a will was never probated. My sister is refusing to give the attorneys name that handled the will. We dont believe the second will ever existed or it was a forgery. What should we do first? What is the statute of limitation on this? I will have to look for the exact date of death but dont think it is quite 2 years yet

What state?

Go to the probate office and ask if there is an estate that has been probated in your aunts name. In some states, the estate has to be opened some time in the year following the death and be finished and closed in the next calendar year.

Thanks for reply the state is Georgia. Do I go to the probate office in the county where she lived?

Yes. Probated estates are public information. You shouldn't have any trouble finding out what you want to know.

I called probate court . The will or the estate was not probated. I was lucky enough to get to talk to the judge, he told me I should check with the clerk and see when and if the deed to the property was transfered to my sister. To my surprise it was transfered in 2002. That means it was already in her name . I think I know what they did . It was done to hide her assets from the medicade people before going to nursing home. There were also a lot of C D s that semed to have vanished.

So, her estate was never probated? the sister just took everything? This means if there was a will, it was undoubtedly never filed at the courthouse before she died.

Who told you there was a million dollars? Even if it was possible, you or anyone else may never really know. If the sister had power of attorney before she died, then she may have put her name on all of these documents so they would just transfer to her upon the woman's death. Very interesting.

I would certainly confront her and tell her you are going to contact the police regarding fraud or theft if she does not produce information for the rest of the family. Insist you all will join together and have this investigated so it would behoove her to be honest and upfront from here on out.

Did the judge tell you the statute of limitations for the estate to go through probate?

Ever heard the expression 'where there is a will, there is a way?" I have a sign that says, "Where there is a will, there are greedy relatives."

It would seem the same applies to the sister!

Good luck. Let me know what you find out.

You have been very helpful, guess what the sister is named Grace also. The judge didnt know the statute of limitation on that for some reason. One of the other nieces claims to have went with her to the court house for reading of the will thet left my sister everything but how can that be true when the court has no record of a probated will? We are trying to pen down the other niece on that now. I do know my sister had an estate sale recently of all the antique funiture she had removed from the house and has been hiding for two years or more. The auction was held at the farm where the furniture was removed from. Can you find out the statute of limitation for contesting the will in wheeler co. Georgia? I have been unable to. I think we have about 2 months before 2 years is up. Does power of attorney give a person the right to make up a will and sign a persons name to it ? It seems like there should be a law against that. Im not sure she had power of attorney but she took charge of her bank account and was excutor of the estate.

My name isn't really Grace--it's Victoria--but my tried and true fans call me worse.

In any regard--a little tutorial on probate and wills in Georgia (taken from their published laws and procedures) :

"PROCEDURES AVAILABLE FOR DECEDENTS' ESTATES WHEN THERE IS A WILL:

SOLEMN FORM PROBATE - This procedure requires notice to all heirs and becomes binding upon all parties immediately upon entry of the final order. "Heirs" are those persons who would inherit the estate if there were no lawful Will; heirs may or may not be beneficiaries under the Will. The notice requires anyone having a legal cause to object to or contest the alleged Will to file the objection or contest before a certain deadline. The original Will must be filed with the petition, and proof of the proper execution of the will must be provided by either a self-proving affidavit, Interrogatories or Proof of Witness. All heirs must be duly served or must acknowledge service. The Court will appoint a guardian-ad-litem for each minor or incapacitated heir.

COMMON FORM PROBATE - This procedure may be done without notice to heirs but does not become binding for four years after the appointment of the Executor. The requirements of providing the original Will and proof of proper execution are the same as with the Solemn Form Probate. Heirs and others may file an objection or contest at any time up to four years after common form probate." See http://www.georgiacourts.org/courts/probate/grady/estates.html (web published by Grady County Probate Court).

In this format all 'interested persons' are provided a copy of the will before we open the probate, and are either given notice that there will be on the will or they waive notice and sign a consent form to proceed. As long as everyone who had the right to receive notice did receive notice, or waived notice and consented, and provided no one showed up at the hearing and objected, the will is admitted and there is no appeal allowed (no statute of limitations for contesting).

If this was the procedure used for the probate you are concerned about, I would suspect that your only grounds for contesting would be that you were entitled to notice but were not given notice. (Even then, you would likely only have a basis for contesting if the party giving notice knew of your existence, knew where to locate you, and intentionally did not give you notice to cut you out of that process. Also, you may have been deemed to have acquiesced to the admission of this will once you found out about it if you failed to promptly object )

Under the other probate process, the Common Form probate, no notice is given to heirs and other interested persons, so they have an elongated period of time to take notice and file an objection: at any time until the four year period has run.

In your case, NO form was used ( apparently). Better yet, all sis and ask which form she used---Common form, or solemn form. See how many minutes she stammers before hanging up on you.

Glad its not Grace, we will let what your friends call you be Victorias secret. Im still confused about why the court has no record of the probate. Either form is not legal unless probated, right? Also cant I check with the courts to see if she was given power of attorney? Isnt that also public info? I will be gone a few days but be back on computer when return. Thanks so much for your time.

Victoria's secret is no one over a size 2 can wear anything in the store. There, you have it. The secret is out.

Anyway, yes, a legal power of attorney has to be notarized and filed at the courthouse. Power of attorney ends when the person dies---it wouldn't give your sister any authority over the estate.

It is possible there was no will--or if there was, none was filed, or it was destroyed, etc. And your sister took it upon herself to simply dispose of the property herself. I would certainly beat the proverbial bushes until some answers appear.

I suspect she never opened an estate, in an attempt at bypassing the scrutiny it brings and opted, instead, to just dispose of the property to suit her interests.