Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Florida

Your sister-in-law has no right to the crystals based on the fact that she gave the

crystals to her mother. Your mother-in-law has a legal right to give her property to

whomever she wants to have such gifts so long as another person does not have a

superior right. If her estate is going to probate, the claim of your daughter could

be asserted and evidence provided (the witnesses). It is a difficult matter to handle

as the only probate matter, given the time and expense of probate. Given the

evidence described, your daughter has the superior right to the crystals.

Since there is no will, the estate is distributed per rules of intestacy. The granddaughter would have no rights.

Intestate, no will, succession to assets is as follows per statute

732.103 Share of other heirs.�The part of the intestate estate not passing to the surviving spouse under s. 732.102, or the entire intestate estate if there is no surviving spouse, descends as follows:

(1) To the descendants of the decedent.

(2) If there is no descendant, to the decedent�s father and mother equally, or to the survivor of them.

(3) If there is none of the foregoing, to the decedent�s brothers and sisters and the descendants of deceased brothers and sisters.

(4) If there is none of the foregoing, the estate shall be divided, one-half of which shall go to the decedent�s paternal, and the other half to the decedent�s maternal, kindred in the following order:

(a) To the grandfather and grandmother equally, or to the survivor of them.

(b) If there is no grandfather or grandmother, to uncles and aunts and descendants of deceased uncles and aunts of the decedent.

(c) If there is either no paternal kindred or no maternal kindred, the estate shall go to the other kindred who survive, in the order stated above.

(5) If there is no kindred of either part, the whole of the property shall go to the kindred of the last deceased spouse of the decedent as if the deceased spouse had survived the decedent and then died intestate entitled to the estate.

(6) If none of the foregoing, and if any of the descendants of the decedent�s great-grandparents were Holocaust victims as defined in s. 626.9543(3)(a), including such victims in countries cooperating with the discriminatory policies of Nazi Germany, then to the descendants of the great-grandparents. The court shall allow any such descendant to meet a reasonable, not unduly restrictive, standard of proof to substantiate his or her lineage. This subsection only applies to escheated property and shall cease to be effective for proceedings filed after December 31, 2004.

History.�s. 1, ch. 74-106; s. 8, ch. 75-220; s. 1, ch. 77-174; s. 16, ch. 2001-226; s. 145, ch. 2004-390; s. 102, ch.

Such a sad state of affairs. If I can be of assistance, please contact my office for an appointment. 9040-997-1031