Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Ohio
step mother refused copy of will
Two years before my father's death, he told me & my sister at his death, my 2 sisters and I would be given a portion of his estate. The rest would come at the death of his spouse. My sister died a couple months later but she told her daughter what my father said. My father died in May of this year. My step mother offered the will to me to read. She said in 1983 she and my father made their wills and left all each other. At her death the estate would be divided between her two children and his three children, so 5 ways. I was shocked that I couldn't read the will. I ask for a copy to read at a later date and she said she would give me one. I never received a copy, so I called her and she refused me copy. I went to the county courthouse and the estate had been filed, but the will was not there. I know the first line of the will named me and my sister, and my deceased sister's children, but thats all I read. What are our rights? I was under the impression that is someone was named in the will, they were entitled to a copy?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: step mother refused copy of will
First, when did die, and when was the filing made with the probate court? Second, did you ever check back with the probate court to see if the will was later filed. Generally, an application for authority to administer an estate, and an application to probate a will are filed at the same time, but not always. The will would have be included in the application to probate. It may be in the court file now. To answer your question, no one other than the person who makes a will is "entitled" to it, even if they are named in the will.
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