Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Florida

If your father was a North Carolina resident, than NC law applies to all his assets, except realty located in another state. So any answer given is more based upon basic law, than NC law.

Probate is only for assets that upon the owners death, needs court intervention to establish new legal ownership. Joint assets know who their owner is on death, so they don't go through probate, and the Will does not control in most cases.

So if your father had all his assets with his wife jointly, or husband and wife, then she is right and she gets it all. If your grandmother had set up a trust to provide your father with an income stream, then things could be different.

But it sounds like that your grandmother gave him the assets outright, with the hope that he would pass it on to his children. Well that hope doesn't work. It was up to our father to set up something to cause that to happen.

To know absolutely for sure, you need to consult with an attorney of the appropriate state that your father resided in.