Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
I was renting a condo from my father that he still owned and he was relocated during the Northridge earquakes. He had a safe with valuable in it but since my mother passed he didnt have the combonation. Since then he remarried and passed (apparently without a will, which still havent been able to prove differently) and his wife doesnt acknowledge that he had it after they moved. It is possible that he was too incoherent with all his health problems that he left it there. Is there a way to go back and see if it is there and to get it if it is??
2 Answers from Attorneys
You mean go sift through the rubble 17 years later? Or bug the present owner of the condo if it is still there? Good luck with that.
I suggest you try to arrange an "initial free consultation" with a local lawyer who specializes in administration of estates. Tell him or her all the facts. The size of the estate may dictate the course to be taken. A probate proceeding may be required. Finding a lost will is seldom easy and sometimes the best approach is to figure out what law firm he may have used and ask if they have retained a copy.