Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in New York

Re: Distributees

If you sign off you are consenting to the will. If you believe that the will was signed under duress, fraud or if your father did not have the mental capacity to sign a will, you should not sign the consent and instead contest the will.

Mike.

Re: Distributees

The reason the attorney wants you to "sign off' on the will is that this will allow the Will through Probate (which means proving the Will). The papers probably say that you have received a copy of the Will and waive any formal service of process to allow the Will to go through probate. The reason for this is that, generally, under New York, the beneficiaries of a Will must get Notice to the Will as well as all those other persons who would have inherited money if the Will is no valid.

Again, basically, there are only four ways to attack the legitimacy of the Will-proper execution, lack of capacity to understand the will by the decedent, undue influence and fraud.

If you feel that any of the above four may apply, see a local attorney about the issue. There are time limits on when you can object to a Will. Have the attorney explain the difficulties in contesting a will and the different burdens of proof to establish the claim.

Good Luck.

Re: Distributees

I agree with Mr. Markowitz and Mr. Roemer.

You may have a chance of overturning the will, and thus receive a portion of the estate for your benefit.

If you would like to contact me, please feel free to do so. I am pretty close to you.