Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in New York
My mother recently passed away (with a will) leaving what is left of her estate (after paying expenses) to her remaining 5 children. Her eldest son passed away 2 years ago (he has 2 grown children). Her lawyer now tells us that he has to mail a letter to my deceased brothers children and advise them of the will or soemthing and they will have the opportunity to contest it. Why is this necessary? If my Mom had wanted to leave her grandchildren somethign - she would have provided for it in her will. In fact she was asked by her attorney - and she refused. Neither grandchild had anything to do with her - in fact they made it very clear that they did not even consider her "immediate family".
Why do the grandchildren need to be made aware of the will? And if the lws supercede the deceased wishes - why even have a will at all?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Under NY law anyone who might inherit if there were no will is entitled to notice of the proceeding to probate the will. The grandchildren would have to successfully contest the will in order to inherit.
In examining this response, please note that we are not entering into an attorney/client relationship, that this is to be taken as informative, and not as legal advice, that it is always best to speak to a lawyer in your area and/or in the area where the transaction and/or events occurred, and that my answer is necessarily limited by the fact that I have not seen the documentation or had an opportunity to go over the matters with you in detail.
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