Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in North Carolina

I am not licensed in Maryland. If the hokme is located there then you should consult a Maryland attoney.

While I cannot advise you on Maryland law, if the home was owned by your father and his wife, either as a tenancy by the entirety or joint tenants with right of survivorship, then the home would have passed solely to your step-mother upon your father's death. In such case, unless your stepmother made a will leaving you the home, then you are not entitled to it at all.

If your father owned the home as a tenant in common with his spouse (unusual, but not uncommon), then 1/2 of the land would pass to his heirs at his death. If he had a will then his share of the land would pass as per his will. If he had no will, then the land would pass to his heirs under the intestacy law, which would be your step mother and his biological or adopted children. Caveat here - some states provide that children born out of wedlock cannot inherit from their father if their father has not legitimated them during the father's lifetime. I don't know if Maryland has such a requirement and that may be one reason why you need to speak to a Maryland probate attorney if you were born out of wedlock.

While you do not speak to your stepmother, most counties have register of deeds' offices that offer online access to deeds. I would contact the register of deeds for Baltimore County and get a copy of the deed to your father's real property. Look under the heading "grantee" - that is who is the owner. If it lists your father and stepmother, as husband and wife or similar language, then you are out of luck because the land passed solely to your step-mother. Unless she made a will leaving you as the beneficiary you have no right to inherit from her.

You do not indicate what else your father owned when he died. That is another reason for you to talk with a Maryland probate attorney to ascertain whether an estate was ever probated and if you were entitled to share in it and if no estate was probated whether it would be too late to do that now.