Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Pennsylvania

There is only a reading of the will in the movies. After someone dies, if there is a will, then the person named in the will as the executor takes the will to the court to file. If there are probate assets, then the executor seeks to administer the estate and applies for probate.

And I am puzzled - you claim your father died recently but then claim all of the assets have been sold. How can that be? What is recently? 2 weeks? 3 months? This is inconsistent.

You do not indicate what your father owned, how it was titled or whether your father had probate assets or not. If land was jointly owned by your parents, the land would pass outside of probate to your mother. Same for a joint checking account between owned by your mother and father. What other assets are there? What would a will say if there was a will? Your father may have advised he would treat the children fairly, but the will could have left everything to the wife and the children would inherit only after she died.

If a will exists, if it has not been filed, the executor can be compelled to produce the will. It is a crime to conceal or destroy a will. I would first check with the probate court (called the Orphans' Court if this is in PA) in the county where your father lived at prior to his death. I would see if there is an estate file and make a copy of the entire file. If land was owned, I would get a copy of the deed to the land.

I would then consult with a probate attorney who practices in the county where the estate is or would be probated. If there is no estate file, then hire the attorney to compel production of the will and get a restraining order to preclude your siblings from disposing of assets. What they have done, without probating a will, is improper and they can be held personally liable if they have disposed of assets without probate if there are probate assets.