Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Georgia

First of all email Law Guru. You should note post your name or personal information here and they can probably delete your post.

To answer your question, check with the probate court in the county he died and see if an estate was opened. If yes, go there and look at the papers. If no, you may want to file to administer his estate (and in that case, hire a lawyer).

Ms. Harris,

Pardon me for asking, but if your father died in 2007, why are you asking this NOW? A parent does not have to leave anything to a child if he does not want to and if you were estranged from your father, he may not have left you anything and that is why you have heard nothing. You do not have to be told anything if you are not an heir.

You need to check with the probate court in the county and state where your father resided at the time of his death. You need to see whether an estate was ever opened in the name of your father. If not, then you will need to see a probate attorney in the same area. Before you do, you need to determine whether your father had assets and if he had a will. If he had no will, then you will have to see the attorney and determine what the intestacy laws say regarding your share. Whether yourt father had assets or not and whether he had a wife who was living at the time of his death may affect your intestate share. If an estate was opened, you need to make a copy of the will, inventory and accounting and bring it to the attorney. The estate should have been closed a long time ago - most estates take 1 - 2 years to administer, depending on what kind of assets there are.

The will should tell you how the assets were to be distributed. The inventory and accounting will tell you what assets there were and how distribution was made. If the will excludes you, then it excludes you. Whether you can re-open the estate and challenge the will would depend on whether you have grounds to challenge it and that is something you would discuss with the probate attorney. If the will includes you, were there any assets? It may be that the personal representative could not locate you. In such case, your share might be held by the court or the state treasurer. Go to www.unclaimed,org if that is the case and it will provide you with links to all of the state treasurers - choose the state in which you think there could be assets.