Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

You are basically asking whether the phrase "survior or surviors of same" means it goes to you three daughters/sisters unless one or more of you dies, in which case it goes only to the daughter/sister(s) who survive (which is what you contend), or if it means that it goes to the three daughter/sisters and if one of them dies it goes to their surviving heirs (which is what your nieces appear to claim). You and your surviving sister want the first interpretation because that leaves you with 50/50 ownership and cuts out your deceased sister's heirs. Of course your deceased sister's daughters want the latter interpreation, so that they will share in 1/3 of the property. That could be a difficult and costly question to answer, but fortunately or unfortunately it is the wrong question. Since all three of you survived your mother, each of you inherited the right to 1/3 of the property at that time. The fact that someone messed up your mother's estate and failed to have the property title transferred from you mother's name to the three of you, does not change the fact that your deceased sister was the legal owner of 1/3 of the property as of 1985. From then on, your mother's will is irrelevant. Who get's your sister's 1/3 of the property is determined by her will, not your mother's. Your sister and her heirs are not deprived of the property she inherited in 1985 just because someone screwed up and didn't properly probate your mother's estate.

correct

You need to post in the category for New Mexico. Real property is probated in the state where the real property is, regardless of where the deceased was living at the time of her death.