Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Georgia

Can we contest?

In 1984,my mother was killed in a freak accident. We(my father, siblings and self) sued the responsible party and are all named separately in the settlement, which was disbursed over 15 yrs. My father recently passed away. In his will, he left most of the remainder of the settlement to our stepmother. He put a do not contest clause also. We believe that the settlement should not even have been a part of the will as the courts already gave that to us as well as him. His attorney feels otherwise. How can we recover the remainder of the settlement that is rightfully ours? Can we contest and win, even with the no contest clause,or should we sue the estate? My father did not share much of the settlement with us, but told us that he would leave whatever was left to us at his death. We do not want our stepmother to get any of the money that was a result of our mother's wrongful death. What can we do? Thank you in advance.


Asked on 2/01/02, 2:01 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Hugh Wood Wood & Meredith

Re: Can we contest?

Certainly the interesting question of the day. The "answer" to your question is probably contained in the language of the 1984 Final Order and/or Settlement Documents. For example, if it appears that a % of the money is clearly yours in 1984 and your father is only a "caretaker" or "custodian" of your money, then, ergo, it would be wrongful of him to will that money to your stepmother. I have a bar lic. in VA I have not used in awhile, but my recollection is that you can move the Circuit Court to impose a constructive trust on the money, if Stepmon already has her paws on it. If it is still in Probate, you make the motion before the $ is distributed. Now on the other hand (the you lose side of the argument), if the terms of the 1984 settlement show that 100% of the money in Dad's possession at the time of this death were HIS (legally, not morally), then he may will them free and clear to Stepmon. I do not think you can enforce the "proimse to make a will" of the $ to you based on your facts. The KEY to your question is contained in the final documents in 1984. Go find them and see what they say. Good Luck with it. If you need help, my partner does a lot of this type work. Hugh Wood

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Answered on 2/01/02, 11:47 am


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