Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Georgia
My father passed away on the 2nd of feb. the last 5 or 6 days that he was alive he was in a daze and talked nonsense mostly. After his death I was told by my step-mother to be at a lawyers office for the reading of his will. The will was signed by my father 4 days prior to his death. And it is barely legible. (my dad had beautiful handwriting) all of the letters of his name are not even there. The will gave everything (property,cars,shop, tools,equipment) to my brother and all it said about me was I was to recieve a third if anything else was sold. I was devastated! Two weeks prior to this my dad and I talked about it and he said that his main concern was to be fair.The will that was presented to me was not fair at all. Also, my brother is friends with the lawyer and the lawyer was a customer of my fathers antique auto restoration shop. The lawyer went to the hospital himself and obtained the signature (if you can call it that) from my dad himself. What can I do as I feel that my brother has dealt treacherously with me on this matter?
2 Answers from Attorneys
The question is whether the will is valid, and whether your father was competent to execute the will. The issue is not what is "fair." That has no relevance whatsoever, as you have no legal right to fairness, or anything at all beyond what is given you in the will or under the law. As far as the lawyer, it is quite common to hire a friend. Unless you think the lawyer is risking his career or worse because of your brother, which is highly unlikely, that is a dead end. If you want to contest, you need a lawyer. The lawyer will then explain what happens if the will is deemed invalid.
There is no duty to be "fair" in a will, and people often hire lawyers who are friends to make wills. No lawyer will risk his license to play games with a will.
The sole issue is whether your father had testamentary capacity when he did the will (NOT physical condition). If you feel he did not, and have a significant sum to spend (as the retainer in a will contest will be in the thousands of dollars), you can retain counsel. I need to point out that most of what you mentioned is not central to testamentary capacity. Whether he understood what he was doing and meant to do it is the issue.
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