Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Indiana
Grandmothers will
My great grandmother passed away recently. I read the will and she had in her will about her property to be split between her children totalling 6. The property was sold 10 years ago to one of the children. Should the property be taken into account when dispersing the estate? She also had a provision that her estate be divided evenly between her children and my father who she raised each to get 1/7th of estate. One of her children preceded her in death. My Uncle is the executor of the will and has not put it to probate but he told my father that he is only entitled to receive $2,000 which is 1/7th of the value of part of the property. The will that is being used wasn't signed by my grand mother. My father has requested to see the will and my Uncle will not let him. Since he is named in the Will does he have the right to go to the Attorney were the Will was created and get a copy of it? What legal actions can he take if the interpretation of the true will is different then what he has been given. Does he have the right to request will to be placed in Probate? Thank you.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Grandmothers will
If the will has been presented to the local court for probate, a copy can be obtained from the court. All devisees named in the will are entitled to notice that the estate has been opened and to whether it is to be supervised or unsupervised. If the estate is unsupervised, this means that the Court will be less involved in the settling of the estate and it also means that any of the devisees can request of the court that the estate be supervised.
If property devised in a will has been sold or given away by the testator before death, then unless there is still money owed for the property, it is treated as adeemed and no longer part of the estate. Obviously, if no estate has been opened and the entire gross estate is worth more than $25,000, then someone needs to get the estate into probate - whether it is the person holding the will or another heir. If the estate is treated as being worth less than $25,000 (because most of the cash assets are in joint names), then you can still insist the Court oversee what is being done - it just isn't required. An estate of any size can be probated, it just does not have to be if it is less than $25,000.
An heir might have a problem in dealing with the attorney who drafted the will if the executor is planning on using him for the attorney for the estate and may be less than forthcoming about the situation. It would be best if the heir hired his own attorney to deal with the other attorney and/or the executor if this happens.
At any time during the proceedings, an interested person (an heir or devisee or a creditor) can petition the court for instructions or interpretations of the will.
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