Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California
my boyfriends father passed away and left a WILL which was completed in 2005, it names my boyfriend and his only sister as the 2 sole benificiaries (60% to my boyfriend and 40% to his sister.)
although his father remarried in 2011 there was no amendment made to the will -she is not named as a benificiary at all.
since his untimely death she now claims there she has an amendment to the will that the father just didnt get a chance to sign.
does california law allow something like this to happen or is she out of luck?
2 Answers from Attorneys
If he didn't sign it then it is not a legally enforceable document.
While I agree with Mr. Jordan, it's a bit more complicated than that. The unsigned will or amendment is indeed legally irrelevant. However, unless a spouse or child is intentionally left out of a will, and the will expressly makes clear that the omission was intentional, the omitted person can petition the court to void the will and distribute the estate by intestate succession, or for other equitable relief. Since the one valid will clearly could not have included language of intent to omit a spouse who wasn't married to the deceased at the time the will was made, she has a potentially valid case to contest the will.
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