Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in New York
Half brother not acknowledged at probate
My father had an older half brother from his mother's first marriage; her first husband had died. The two men inherited their parents' house, though there was never any formal transfer of the property to them (no wills, no probate, etc.). My father and our family lived in it. When my uncle died, his will made no mention of the property. Yet, the NY State probate court forms show a space where his wife/daughter should have checked a box indicating he had a half-brother (my father), yet they failed to do so. As a result, the whole house ownership issue was never resolved as it should have been at the time, leading to problems today. Question: does my uncle's faily's failure to acknowledge my father and include him in the probate process in any way negate that process? Would we have a way to petition the court to re-examine the situation? My uncle died in 1982.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Half brother not acknowledged at probate
This is somewhat complicated, as your facts are not clear, and the situation may require some document investigation. Was the half-brother a child of your grandmother's first husband, who predeceased her? Was there a Deed in the names of your grandmother and her husband? If so, how was the property titled (owned)? If the Deed followed the traditional ownership (husband and wife with rights of survivorship), your grandmother became the sole owner on her husband's death. Since she died intestate (without a Will) only her natural heirs would inherit, which would be your father only, not a step-son (his half brother), which would make your mother's family the sole owners unless she adopted the step-son. This may explain why no mention of the property was included in his estate. Someone needs to check Deed recording information and it may require some litigation to obtain good title today, to clear up what had not taken place years ago.
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