Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Pennsylvania

It sounds like your in-laws had what is called a joint and mutual will. Generally, when the first to die passes, the will is probated. The will gets re-filed when the second spouse dies, assuming it has not been changed. The will does not "expire." It would only be invalid if the man made a more recent will.

I don't know what there would be to contest if the will is valid. I am not going to second guess whatever alleged advice was given or not given. If there is an attorney for the estate, then the attorney is familiar with the situation and has reviewed the relevant documents. Its unethical for any other attorney to intervene. Its also unfair to the attorneys here as well as the estate attorney.

That said, I don't know what the will said. There is no reverter. When the wife died, assets would have passed as per her will probably to the husband. When he died, the assets would pass to whomever was named as the next beneficiary. If no beneficiary is named or if the will would be deemed invalid for any reason, then in that case, an intestacy would result and the man would be considered as if he died with no will. Assuming he had not remarried at the time of his death, then his property would pass via intestacy to his biological or adopted children. His assets would no pass to any step-children.

So you need to see what the will says about who would receive the property once the second spouse passed. If the will names one or more beneficiaries, then that is who gets the property. Only if nobody is named would the biological or adopted children inherit.

This is why people should not wait 30 years or more to look at the will. And why joint and mutual wills are disfavored. Any time a life-changing event occurs like a marriage, divorce, death, birth, adoption or relocation to another state, any existing will needs revisited and revised if appropriate. Learn from this and make sure that an estate plan is in place so your heirs or beneficiaries do not have to go through legal wrangling.