Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Washington

Re: Father's will and stepmom

My first suggestion is to consult with an attorney -- well worth the expense to figure out your next steps and it would allow the attorney to get a firm grasp of the facts. However, making a hundred assumptions, the spouse would be entitled to all community property and one-half of the separate property of the estate because she was left off the will. The law presumes that the decedent spouse would have included the surviving spouse and just forgot prior to death. Certainly creditors and final expenses of the estate are covered before the spouse or anyone else gets their share. Remember, I'm an attorney but I'm not YOUR attorney. Only a thorough review of your situation by a competent attorney will result in an informed legal opinion.

Re: Father's will and stepmom

And Mr. Busch is a pretty smart attorney, too. He's right. Your stepmom will take 1/2 the community and 1/2 of his separate property, if any, because she is an omitted spouse.

The smart thing to do is to contact the attorney who wrote your dad's will in the first place, and see if you can get the probate started. That person (or another attorney of your choice) can help the siblings and the stepmom figure out what can be resolved by agreement, and that's always less expensive.

What happens to his stuff depends largely on how much there is.

Hope this helps. Elizabeth Powell