Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Kentucky

Re: Nine year old handicapped son left out of father's will.

This answer speaks only to Indiana law. A child or his custodial parent has 5 months after the deceased parent's estate is opened to file a suit within the estate to establish paternity of the child and challenge the will for the benefit of the child. The child or his custodial parent has the right to be the petitioning party to open an estate. The person named as executor can be expected to offer the will for probate and a close eye needs to be kept on the probate court for the county in which the deceased parent lived for the opening of the estate and probate of the will, as that is when the 5 month period to file to establish paternity begins. The Court has the power to determine whether the provision in the will is operative to deny any inheritance to the child or not. In order to claim social security benefits for the child based on the death of the parent, paternity must be established within that 5 month period (or at least the petition to do so be filed during that time). If both parents had lived together in Indiana, I would doubt that a suit for palimony would recover any benefit for the custodial parent (your sister). However, depending upon the "agreement" of the parties a partnership arrangement might be alleged and result in a benefit to the custodial parent. The Court's powers of construction of the will and the arguments made will affect the outcome of the child's right to share in the estate. For example, the Court might be convinced that the decedent did not intend to benefit any child born after the execution of the will but that he only referred to children which would be born to his then existing marriage, and that he did not intend to exclude a child born by a different mother. If your estimate of the estate is correct, then about $200,000 will be taxable to the 3 adult children. If the estate is divided 4 ways, then only what amount is left after expenses exceeding $400,000 will be taxable. If the other children are concerned about payment of taxes and/or have been acquainted with the child or have had knowledge of the circumstances, they may be more willing to share the estate with the child but not his mother. I cannot give you any % chances of winning. To the extent the parties lived in kentucky, this advise may not apply.