Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Pennsylvania
wills-incorporating things that were not in original document after person dies
my mom's will states ''all children are to share equally in
my property wherever situated'' when she passed away.Subsequent to her death my sister pulls out a crumpled
piece of paper with some handwritten (unauthenticated)''bequeaths'' to the various children that my
sister insists should be incorporated to the will. I
disagree because 1.) we don't know when this was made
2.) my mother could have changed her mind about who to give
what 3.) the list was far from comprehensive leaving the
remainder of the estate to bicker about who gets what 4.)
wills were created to eliminate the uncertainty of what
a person really wants and the only way to really share
equally is to divest the assets and split the proceeds
equally (auction the contents) Unfortunately my sister and
the estate attorney are in agreement to include this paper
into the will. I think even if we all agreed to accept
this as part of the will it is legally wrong and the conduct of the estate attorney may be improper by doing this. Could you please provide some guidance
About 1 month before the will was made mom's life insurance
went from an even 25% split to a 100% sole beneficiary to
my sister We suspect hanky-panky. Does the will protect us.
what to do
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: wills-incorporating things that were not in original document after person dies
You have two issues:
The first the supposed external document. A will in Pennsylvania is everything above the signature. If an external document is incorporated by reference it needs to be described in the will itself and must be in existence before the will is signed.
The second, the change to the beneficiary of a life insurance close to death raises the question of undue influence, fraud or duress. The 3 grounds for overturning such a change.
Without more information its hard to give definitive answers. The good news is I am close and the initial consultation is free. So feel free to contact me.
{John}
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