Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Georgia

Questions about Florida law should be directed to Florida lawyers.

If your father lived in Florida prior to his death, then you would need a Florida probate attorney to advise you of the law there. Georgia has nothing to do with this case.

It is too soon for a will to be probated. You might want to check 30-60 days after death with the clerk of the probate court in the Florida county in which your father resided to see if an estate has been probated. If he had a will at all, it should be filed. It is a crime in most jurisdictions to conceal a will and even if there is no need for probate the will still needs to be filed if it exists.

Know that a parent does not have to leave their child any property at all. So if your father made a will, his assets will pass as outlined in his will (assuming that the will is valid and is not the product of fraud/forgery, undue influence or lack of mental/testamentary capacity).

If your father had no will, then each state has laws to address how a person's assets will be distributed. Usually, the assets pass to the surviving spouse, if any, and the children.

Of course, this all assumes that there are assets to probate. Wills or the intestacy laws are only concerned with probate assets. Things that are non-probate assets do not pass as per the will. For example, things like life insurance or retirement benefits pass to the designated beneficiary. Other things like joint checking accounts or land owned as a joint tenancy with right of survivorship or tenancy-by-the-entirety pass to the other joint account holder or person on the deed to the land. Also, there are special rules for spouses and she can get a claim for a family allowance (it may be called different things in different states - family exemption, yearly allowance etc.). This is paid before any creditor's claims.

You can try rep-posting your question and directing to Florida attorneys, but you would be best advised to actually pay a Florida probate attorney for a 30-60 minute consult. The attorney will want to know if there is a will or not and who the beneficiaries would be (names of spouses and children). You 3 children could all hire one attorney - your interests would not conflict based on the information provided.

You asked in teh Georgia part of Law Guru. Since this involves Florida law, repost using a Florida zip code so Fla. lawyers see your question.