Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Pennsylvania

Open an estate for your dad, his other family will make themselves known.

Where did your father live prior to his death? When did he die? What does the obituary say about your father's relations? Is your father's name relatively common or unique?

First, are you sure that the man who died is in fact your father? If the man had a common name it is possible that it is someone else. Assuming that you have the right person, even though you have not spoken to him did you have some inkling as to whether he in fact had another family? Did he divorce your mother and if so, when did that occur? And obituaries are not necessarily truthful - it is also possible that your father lived with his paramour and had a love child or a step-child and the family glossed over things when writing the obituary.

I find it kind of strange that if you did not bother to have a relationship with your father while he was alive, whether through your own fault or the fault of others, that would you emerge only when the man is dead. I'm not sure why you would care other than to get your share of the assets.

There is no law that says that a parent has to leave anything at all to a child and, if as you claim, you had no relationship with the man, he may well have had a will and completely disinherited you. So you will need see what any will said and whether there was any specific mention of you therein. If there is no will, then you would be entitled to a share of your father's probate estate along with any other siblings or a spouse. However, you would only inherit if there are probate assets and if the assets are sufficient to pay any debts of the estate. Not all assets are probate assets - examples of things that pass outside probate are jointly held bank accounts, land owned jointly with someone else with right of survivorship or with a spouse or beneficiary-designated assets like life insurance, annuities or IRAs.

If you know, what kind of assets did your father own at the time of his death? Land? Cars? Bank accounts? What debts did he have if any? Land is easy to check - you can search at the register/recorder of deeds in the county where your father lived prior to his death. If you find land, how was the land titled? Solely in your father's name or owned with someone else? There are also ways to check on a vehicle at the DMV. Debts have to be paid before the heirs get anything (other than the very small family allowance).

If your father has been dead for at least 30 days, check with the probate court in the county where your father resided and see if an estate has been opened. If it has been opened, then you will see whether there is or is not a will. While you would have to be notified, if you had no knowledge of the other family then the chances are good that they had no knowledge of you either. However, the file should contain the name of the personal representative or any estate counsel and you will then be able to make yourself known.

If there is no will and no probate at all, then you or anyone else can file a petition to compel production of any will or seek to become the personal representative yourself. As noted by Attorney Brown, if you do this, you will have to notify the family and if there are any assets at all to be divided, they will be there