Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Louisiana
My father died March 2010. He had a will that named me sole beneficiary of the family home and property which were aquired before he married in 2002. His wife, my step-mother and her brother-in-law who is an attorney revised my father's will. Because my father was dying of cancer he thought he was only revising the will to state that she would be allowed to live in the family home until she died but everything still belonged to me, his only child. She and her lawyer drafted another will stating that she was to inherit everything except his rental property and she has usafruct of everything until her death. However, they used the last page of his first will and the witnesses of the 2nd will who were my father's brother and his wife's signatures are not on the will at all. The will was probated on May 3. Is the will valid?
2 Answers from Attorneys
A will must be signed by testator, notarized and witnessed unless it is an olographic will. This is a will which is signed and dated on each page by the testator and is in their own handwriting. A will without these things is invalid and intestate law would kick in unless there is a valid will found.
It sounds suspicious, but you said the Will was probated in May, so the Judge apparently felt it was valid. Get a copy of the Succession record and show it to an attorney so he can make a more informed decision about the testament's validity. Without seeing the paperwork it is hard to give a solid opinion.
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