Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in New Jersey

lost will

my aunt passed away one year ago leaving my mom (her sis) a hand written will with lawyers name and address where she filed it. mom passed away 6 months later and dad refused to submit hand written will in for probabte. aunts estate was just probabted and released since mom dies dad received her share. part of which was going to me and siblings as dictated in original hand written will. refuses to even let me have it and will not tell me attorneys name on this will. will anyone have a record of this will how can i find the lawyer in cateret nj and since estate was divided to heirs already is it too late for me to even start looking for this lawyer. i have original closing papers on aunts home thought i would contact that lawyer first. is it a waste of time and does dad have the legal right to withhold this hand written will?aunts estate was treated as she dies without a will.


Asked on 2/21/05, 12:03 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Walter LeVine Walter D. LeVine, Esq.

Re: lost will

You are probably out of time to do anything now. Were you notified of the probate by administration, and how much time has elapsed since the probate? Usually a contested probate must be done by notifying the Surrogate within 4 months of the probate. If you can find the original document, you might be able to get a Court to overturn what happened, but you need to put the Surrogate's office on notice. My best suggestion is to contact all attorneys in Carteret (there are only about 20) and request information on whether or not they have the document. If they do, you might be able to get the original and raise the issue with the Surrogate. If not, you are out of luck. You must act quickly to protect your rights. Again, more information is needed about the time frames involved, to give you a better answer as to your rights.

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Answered on 2/22/05, 1:36 pm


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