Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Illinois
what can i do?
i am an only child, my mother passed away in 1979, my fatherand mother had a will and when she died it all went to him . in the event he died all went to me.the will was wrote in 1962 and listed all the normal things, who was to take care of me if i were a minor, the estates executor was listed as his brother, all is fine ,, my father re married in 1980, and she has two children, they kept moneys and affairs seperate and let the wills of each stand as they were. on here we go he died in 2004, , when he died i presneted the will to the lawyer i hired for the estate, my father had wrote my name on the side to make me executor but he did not havce it witnessed, so him doing that was pointless, so we had my 70 plus year old uncle try to handle the affairs with the attorney of the estate,they did a investigation into his death as it was a lil fishy with his wife,, but nothing could be proven 100% , here the question she filed a renouceiation to the will 1 month after his death, which will or could entitle her to 1/3 of the estate assets and 10,000 spouce award. is there anyway to fight this?after all they kept thier affairs seperate onlt a small checking account, and he took her off all policys, life insurance etc what can i do?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: what can i do?
I think you already know the answer, assuming you discussed it with your lawyer. You cant prove she was involved in his demise and she has a statutory spousal award that she is entitled to - irrespective of what he wrote in his will.
Re: what can i do?
It seems to me this is another instance of someone not wanting to pay a lawyer,so now everything is screwed up. Your father should have made out a prenuptuial agreement. However, all joint accounts and life insurance proceeds go to the benificiary regardless of the will. An unwitnessed will is not very good. His wife can do what she's doing because your father didn't hire a lawyer to make sure she couldn't.
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