Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

There are three parts to your question. If his Will stated that his company goes to X but did not stay anything about X having to be alive, then on your step dad's death any part of the company that he owned would go to X. Since X was already dead, the estate assets would go to the heirs of X. A Will can only dispose of assets the deceased actually owns right at the time of their death. So under that situation, the three of you do not get anything.

California is a community property state. Even though your step dad may have founded the company and ran it, he may have used community assets in the business, in which case his wife would have a one half interest in all community funds and all funds generated by those community funds. His Will only disposes of his assets, not your mother's one-half interest in the community funds. You will need to go through the books of the company and your parents' finances to try to figure out what was community property. There may be a problem with legal time limits on being able to recover. Only your mother would have a right of recovery.

If the company was improperly sold, then your step dad might have a cause of action to recover what funds should have gone to him. That chose in action could be transferred as an assets and would also be subject to the same community property laws as any community property money in put into the business. If your mother owned part of the business, she would have her own basis for a lawsuit. But if none of the business is community property, then there may not have been any damages to your father, in which case there is no lawsuit worth filing [you need to have actual damages to be able to win a suit].

There is also an issue of whether the CEO is entitled to anything, as if the Will states it goes to the CEO of the company as opposed to H. Smith who is the CEO, then as there is no company it might not go to the CEO but rather be part of the estate assets residue not directly assigned to anyone so it would pass under the laws of the State of California which means your mother and his children [from his body and adopted] would have a claim.

I do not doubt there are other important issues involved. Clearly you need an attorney to go through all the facts and decide what the actual legal situation is and what is worthwhile to follow up on. Neither the CEO nor your sister are going to turn over any money without a fight. You could hire a local attorney who handles both estate and litigation work [not all do litigation], or if you want I could handle the matter [I am semi-retired so charge $125 per hour]. You should, in any case, act fairly quickly as the passage of time may defeat some of your rights. Unless there is a conflict of interest [which may very well exist as what is your mother's property under community property principles is not available to you to inherit, but yo can knowingly accept such a situation], it also would be best if all three of you combine together with your claims. I can be reached at [email protected] or 510-441-2684.

Good luck.

not proof read