Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

define the difference between cash and personal proverty

in mother's will,it states that all the CASH is to be divided equally between her two daughters. And ALL her personal property is to go to only one of her daughters. cash would be what's in the bank, ie,checking acct. and savings acct. is this a fact? personal property would be defined as; ie; car,jewerly,land,home,furniture and shares of private tax free investment. is all the above true? our main question is this, must the home and the shares be considered as CASH and thus be dispersed equally between the two daughters. as stated in mother's will,all personal property is to go to ONLY ONE DAUGHER! any help is this matter will truly be appreciated.


Asked on 5/18/01, 9:44 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Alex Scheingross Law Offices of Alex B. Scheingross

Re: define the difference between cash and personal proverty

I would like to see the actual wording of your mother's will, but for starters, her home would be real property (is it a mobile home instead of a house or condo? that may make things more sticky), not personal property so that it would be divided. Generally wills have the word "tangible" in front of "personal property." That would exclude financial accounts from going to only one child. Even if "tangible" wasn't there I would argue that it was the testator's intent to only give tangible personal property.

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Answered on 6/25/01, 9:18 pm


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