Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

I assume your parents lived in California or another community property state. When your mother died, he already owed 1/2 of the community property and unless there was a Will saying something to the contrary, he was entitled to her half of the community property. If he prepared a valid Will back then and has not amended it or prepared a new one, the old one remains in force. You can not assume he has not prepared a new Will. A promise to leave something in a Will to another person is not binding. So either you inheritance [if it was in the Will] is intack or not, depending upon the status of the old Will.

Your post is difficult to answer, because it is based on so many assumptions, some of which are clearly erroneous.

First of all, it is not clear whether your father and mother are deceased or still alive. When I was in law school, our Wills professor gave us a quiz in which we were all asked to write down the names of our heirs. Everyone got it wrong, because living people don't have heirs. A person's heirs are determined when they die, not while they are living. Engaging in a discussion of who is going to inherit when one dies is a pointless task involving speculation.

Second, if your father has bought property in Indiana, then upon his death, that property is probated in Indiana, and not in California. Your mother's real property would be probated in the state where it is located, and her personal property would be probated in the state she resided in at the time of her death.

Third, if your parents divorced, and your father remarried, then under California law, this revoked their prior will as a matter of law. "Unless the will expressly provides otherwise, if after executing a will the testator's marriage is dissolved or annulled, the dissolution or annulment revokes all of the following:

(1) Any disposition or appointment of property made by the will to the former spouse.

(2) Any provision of the will conferring a general or special power of appointment on the former spouse.

(3) Any provision of the will nominating the former spouse as executor, trustee, conservator, or guardian."

(Prob. Code, sect. 6122.)

At last count, about half of the states in the union have similar statutes.

Fourth, community property issues between your mother and father, should have been determined in their divorce, and not in subsequent probate proceedings after their divorce.