Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California
My wife's father recently died intestate. Her half-sisters are claiming that my wife is not actually a daughter and therefore not an heir. The other sisters have hired an attorney and a petition has been filed for Special Administrator & Administrator that lists my wife as "Possible Daughter" and the other three as "Daughters".
What needs to be done to ensure my wife's legal rights to any inheritance are preserved?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Hire a lawyer. If they have a lawyer, your wife will lose if she does not have one. I have never in my 25 years of practice ever seen a self-represented person win against a lawyer on the other side. Not once.
Your wife needs a lawyer as Mr. McCormick points out. The lawyer will have to review the procedural posture of the case, and determine whether or not paternity is legitimately being contested.