Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Virginia

Re: executor gave house to step-father w/o talking w/heirs

Your sister, the executor, has to follow the instructions of whatever will is applicable; she cannot on her own just put the house that is part of the decedent's estate or other property in someone's else's name(if what you mean is her signing an executor's deed conveying some interest in the property)unless the will itself authorizes this transfer to this particular person, be it to the stepfather or whomever.

You should ask your executor sister for your very own copy of the valid and applicable will and then carefully study its various provisions to determine which beneficiary is entitled to get what and under what circumstances. By going through this kind of exercise you should be able to answer most if not all of your questions.

Re: executor gave house to step-father w/o talking w/heirs

The obligations of the executor (and I do mean obligations) is to collect all of the assets and money of the deceased, find all debts owed by the decedent (including doing some advertising to alert all creditors, which is mandatory), pay off all creditors, and then distribute what is left strictly according to the terms of the will.

Being executor does not give anyone the authority to do anything differently than what the will requires. Therefore, putting the house in the step-father's name is irrelevant to your rights under the will, except that it may cause wasteful transfer taxes. I am not certain, but I think some prompt action may be needed to void this transfer to the step-father. Although it is clear that the executor has no rights to do this, the problem might arise in getting the house back from the step-father. If he claims that he was innocent of this mistake, he could make it hard for you to get the house back, so that it can be sold and the profits distributed according to the will. Thus, I think that he needs to be notified immediately that the will requires the house to be sold for the benefit of the children, so he cannot say he did not know. And you may need to try to void the transfer as quickly as possible.