Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in New York

inheritance from a deceased father

My father came from Honduras in the late 1960's. Ilived parents had seperated in the early 1980's. I recently found out that he had acquired an inheritance from his grandfather. The inheritance consisted of properties here in new york and may be somewhere else, possibly, New Orleans. The last time I seen my father was in the late 1980's. The year I seen him he was drunk and he tried to give some documents to land he had in honduras and possibly here in the United States, as though he knew it was the last time he would see me.In 1989I went to look for him but I heard he was either killed or died from complications from alcohol consumption. My questions is, if these properties still exist would I be eligible to claim or inherit them as his son or is there any way to find out if these properties exist?


Asked on 6/15/04, 3:31 pm

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

Re: inheritance from a deceased father

You have several problems and possibility of locating property. If your father had no Will and you are closest lving relative, you could apply to become administrator of his estate (Administration is probate where there is no Will). However, to do so, you would need to know where he died (as that is the state in which the administration would take place) and you need to get an original death certificate (which you can get as his child). Without an original death certificate you can not do anything. You can go to the local recording office where you believe he had property (in the county where the property might be located) and search the records for Deeds. You would need to know the approximate year he may have purchased the property to start your search. If you have any information (approximate year of purchase and county of property location) you could have a title company do the search for you, for a fee. It would run a few hundred dollars for each possible location. If you need any further information, contact me. If you do not have any basic information, my best suggestion is to try a Google search under your father's name to see if anything comes up.

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Answered on 6/16/04, 10:50 am


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