Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Georgia
Hello. My mother passed away in April, intestate in Georgia. My stepfather, whom she was married to at the time, has already started giving away some of her belongings without asking myself, or any of my three siblings if we wanted any of it. He is refusing to give us some of the items that she possessed before they married (i.e. - china, china cabinet, furniture, etc.)
My mom owned her home, and his name was not on the deed. However, while he in the midst of filing a petition for letters of administration, he is also attempting to negotiate with her mortgage company to buy her house. She bought the home for $124,000, and still owes $114,000. Additionally, she had quite a bit of other debts. We only want to have access to the items she owned prior to their marriage. I have already signed the form to give him rights to be administrator of her estate. But my other siblings have not. Is there anything we can do, to obtain her pre-marital belongings?
2 Answers from Attorneys
The answer is the same as when you posted the identical post on another legal web site. You still need legal counsel to file appropriate pleadings, and will soon run out of time to act.
When a person dies without a will, the property passes under the intestacy laws to their surviving spouse and children. You and your siblings need to get a probate attorney NOW and stop posting on websites. All of you can jointly hire one attorney to see to it that you can retrieve any personal possessions. You need a probate lawyer in the county where your mother lived at the time of her death.
The problem will be that your mother had debts. Heirs cannot both inherit property and not pay any bills. To the extent that your mother had any valuable items, these may have to be sold to bring funds into the estate. Of course, any items of sentimental rather than non-monetary value should be divided between your mother's children and step-father. That is why you need to see a lawyer now before your step-father completely disposes of things.
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