Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Virginia
Children of deceased parent with Step Parent
Deceased parent, and step parent will not let chilren of deceased parent see or know what is in the will. She is not probating this will or any part of the estate, she said it was left to her, and that was all she was saying. Is this legal, do the children not have the right to know what is in this will or if there is even a real will. She has alrdy put the (Land) in her name. It has been filled, but this is all. She told the children that they were to get theirs when she died not before. I dont understand this.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Children of deceased parent with Step Parent
As is true with most legal questions, it depends. If the deceased had a will, his wife should offer it for probate, and can be forced to do so by the court. If the deceased did not have a will, his PROBATE estate would pass one third to his wife and two thirds to the children who were not her children. But the probate estate does not include bank accounts held jointly by husband and wife, unless it can be proved that the intent to put the accounts in joint names was merely for convenience, rather than to establish survivorship rights in the wife. The presumption is survivorship, so the burden of overcoming that presumption is with the children. The house was probably held in joint names with right of survivorship, or the wife would not be able to take title to it without going through a probate, whether with a will or without a will (intestate.)
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