Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in New Jersey
lying on a marriage license.
It has recently come my attention that my step father misrepresented himself on the marriage license when he married my late mother. He lied about the number of times and that he was widowed, not divorced. Does this in any way invalidate their marriage? My mother established a revocable trust w/a pour over will and left some to him after she passed. He in turn sold the house and took the proceeds out of the trust and took off. I am the executor and the admistrator of the trust. The bank also gave him this money too, and he was not a signor on the trust account. Her assets I took, once she died, ''poured'' over to the trust, the basic principle was to avoid problems. As the admistrator I was to follow the trust distributions. It states no where in her will or trust that he had the authority to do anything. After almost 2 years of searching, I found him, living in SC. Can anything be done?
3 Answers from Attorneys
Re: lying on a marriage license.
YOU need a lawyer who specializes in estates and trusts (I do NOT), and you need that lawyer's assistance immediately.
As executor and trustee (which is what it sounds like you are describing, I am not absolutely certain on this), you have a very very high degree of care placed upon you. You MUST do the right thing, and handle this correctly.
I know some very good estate attorneys, and would be happy to assist you. Again, you need a specialized lawyer before you do anything. You could even end up having to pay out of your own pocket for anything you mishandle, and even lawyer's fees or more!
Please be careful.
Re: lying on a marriage license.
It sounds like a fairly complicated fact pattern, that would require some anaysis of the documents involved as well as the marital history.
If you are the executor and trustee, I'm not sure how your stepfather would have been able to "run off" with any assets without your knowledge and consent...unless there were joint assets that passed to him at your mother's death...I don't know how you would get those assets back, regardless of the marraige licence issue.
Re: lying on a marriage license.
There are too many variables to this question that prevent me from giving you an authoritative answer. The issue on the marriage license may be better answered by an attorney experienced in matrimonial law rather than estate law. The qustions on the trust and estate assets cannot be answered without knowing more about the terms of the trust and the title in which the house and other assets were held. For example, assuming your mother expected the house to be sold and the proceeds put into the trust, that would not happen if he were a joint owner of the house. In that situation he would be entitled to the house. There are many factual questions that must be answered before anyone can say with reasonable certainty whether anything can be done. Good luck.
Related Questions & Answers
Looking for something else?
10,200 active attorneys ready to answer your legal questions today.
Featured Attorneys
Earn additional revenue and grow your business.
