Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Pennsylvania

Per stirpes means that if one of her children predeceases that child's descendants divide that child's share.The clause that says it goes to the surviving child contradicts the per stirpes clause of the of the will.

Sounds like there was no attorney involved or the attorney involved either had no clue what they were doing. In any case this will have to be cleaned up.

Call if you have questions.

I agree with Attorney Davidson on the whole but I or any other attorney needs to review the entire will. The caselaw in PA (assuming that your mothers estate is being probated in PA) generally says that in the event of a dispute the court's primary goal is to try and figure out the testator's (your mother in this case) intent. That is gleaned from the 4 corners of the will.

It may become apparent after looking at the will what your mother intended. Or not. Was the will drafted by a lawyer? If so, maybe this is what is called a "scrivener's error" and can be cleared up by the attorney who drafted it.

Also, where do these contradictory phrases occur? Ir may make a difference.

My main questions - are all of your mother's children alive? You would only have a problem if your mother had 2 children and one predeceased her and the one who predeceased her left behind a child. In that case, the question would be whether surviving child gets it all or whether your mother's child and grandchild split.

If all the children are alive then there really is no problem and the children just share it equally.

Failing that, if there is a problem, then the heirs can avoid a will caveat challenge by working out a family settlement agreement. Will caveats (challenges) are sure to be invited if one child died and the survivor is claiming everything. The grandchildren who are left out are going to be challenging this. Litigation in general is costly.

What I would do is have the executor named in the will get a probate attorney (if he/she has not already done so) and pay the attorney to review the will. All of your mother's debts must be paid before any child gets anything. so first an attorney has to have an idea as to what probate assets and debts there will be. The attorney will have to see how many potential heirs there are under the will. The attorney and executor would then have to discuss the likelihood of a will caveat and weigh the costs and benefits associated with that. As I indicated, there may not be a problem but if there is, I suggest that the heirs enter into a family settlement agreement, especially if we are not talking about a great deal of money. Unless your mother had antique furniture and a fancy car or rare books or valuable jewelry, then her possessions, while having sentimental value are not going to be worth fighting over and creating lasting enmity between the children/grandchildren as well as legal expense.