Posted: 2/7/2025 11:23:25 AM EDT
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As a quick rundown. Location in Hudson Valley NY area. Father in-law passed away this past Sunday unexpectedly. His is survived by his wife, and 5 children. One is a bit off canter, 45 years old works the system and still lives at home. However she does take care of the parents like a live in care taker. Would get them to doctors appointments makes sure they take their meds etc. I have asked the sister who resides there to get all papers together. The mortgage papers/info. Any loan and credit card statements. He was the only income, he passed in his mid 80's. He was getting his township pension and social security. Problem is, the daughter who lives at the house may not produce all the paperwork I asked her to find. Not sure if I trust her to be honest. My wife and I just want to make sure her mother is protected and not loose the house. Other siblings are useless and are all about them getting things. Told them ALL, your mother is the aire, it all belongs to her. Nothing is to be taken or asked for, she will give it to you when SHE is ready. He had NO will that I know of, except a few notes written on a piece of spiral notebook paper. No witness signature, no notary NOTHING. Now to complicate it more, somehow my wife has a text with a picture of this. Hand writing looks like his, it is shakey and a bit messy by pen and hard at times to read. The day after he passed, we were there and I mentioned to the live in daughter. Do you know if he had a will, she said he did write down his wrote some stuff down, hold on. She went into the next room and hands me a piece of spiral notebook paper. I did not read it per say, I glanced at it in disbelief, it was written in pencil, about 2 paragraphs long. No notary stamp, no witness signature. Handwriting was very clear and feminine. This is definitely NOT his hand writing. My wife and I don't want anything but to protect her mother and make sure the house is secure to live in. She is in her mid 80's as well. She is diabetic, has health issues and is losing her short term memory. We know this will progress as time goes on. We do not trust the live in daughter to make sure bills are paid. She is one of the, just ignore it until someone else finds out and I have to address it. My wife said she was told they got a call from a collection agency for a doctors copay, $25.... My wife would like to either get full or co-power of attorney for her mother. As far as we know, her mother has NO will either. We have discussed paying for a lawyer so she can get a official will dine before things get worse. Her mother makes her own decisions, and we will honor 100% of her wishes. The other siblings, 3 of them can't afford to do anything. They live paycheck/assistance check to check. They save nothing and expect others to give and provide to them. The 4th sibling is all about what's in it for me. My wife is the complete opposite, successful, smart and knows how to manage life. Works hard as do I, they siblings call us "Money Bags"... Anyway sorry for the long winded post. Just looking for some direction and input hopefully from someone who has a a lawyers background to give little input and a direction to go. Both my parents are still alive, this is the first time for my wife and I to deal with this. Its going to be a learning curve... Sorry if there are typos etc. Doing this on short time frame to post with some details to paint the picture of what we are dealing with. |
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The wife needs an estate planning lawyer to make a will. Typically the same attorney would handle probate (if needed) if the wife dies. My Dad died in 2023, divorced, my mother already deceased. Only child. So glad he had a good lawyer do his will. Same lawyer worked me through probate. Same lawyer did the sales contract when I sold Dad's home. |
| Need more info to give you adequate legal advice. Hand written wills can be admitted to probate in New York but they are required to be witnessed contemporaneously by two persons of legal age who would not be heirs of his estate. From what you have described that does not appear to be the case. Under the laws of intestacy (dying without a will) in NYS one half of the estate and $50,000.00 goes to the surviving spouse and one half to the surviving issue (children, including adopted children). See EPTL 4-1.1. If the house was owned jointly with the surviving spouse that will pass to her by operation of law outside of the intestate estate. Any joint bank accounts will pass to the surviving joint owner. If he had beneficiary designations on insurance policies, 401k's, investment accounts and the like they will pass according to beneficiary designations. I am a Hudson Valley attorney and do a fair amount of Estate work in the counties of Orange, Ulster and Dutchess. Reach out to me via IM for contact info if you would like. Good luck! |
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Run to a good attorney We have had Wills, Trusts, POA's, Medical Directives, etc., - all the legal instruments / documents for many years. Right after we married near 45 year ago a Great Uncle passed and then his wife passed. They had several acres of land in Houston. But when they bought it, the property was very rural and Houston had grown up and engulfed it. After he and my Aunt passed the kids and Grandkids, Inlaws & Outlaws, various Vultures got to fighting over the estate. The property was sold by the square foot. Lot of money. It was a Zoo and very shocking to ms gamboolgal and I to see the conduct and actions. But money does that to folks in alot of cases. It was ugly - Sad to see but that is reality in many cases. My Great Uncle had worked at General Welding Works from Depression / WW2 Days and he had a Shop Chockerblock full of Snap On Tools, Welding Equipment, Overhead Cranes, Power Tools, Drive Over Bay, etc. I often wondered what happened to all those Tools All we ever got and for that matter wanted was a handmade Rod Iron yard ornament that spells our last name that he made as a Wedding Gift for ms gamboolgal and I when we married. It is out in our Front Flower bed to this day. |
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Originally Posted By Bushman_269: Need more info to give you adequate legal advice. Hand written wills can be admitted to probate in New York but they are required to be witnessed contemporaneously by two persons of legal age who would not be heirs of his estate. From what you have described that does not appear to be the case. Under the laws of intestacy (dying without a will) in NYS one half of the estate and $50,000.00 goes to the surviving spouse and one half to the surviving issue (children, including adopted children). See EPTL 4-1.1. If the house was owned jointly with the surviving spouse that will pass to her by operation of law outside of the intestate estate. Any joint bank accounts will pass to the surviving joint owner. If he had beneficiary designations on insurance policies, 401k's, investment accounts and the like they will pass according to beneficiary designations. I am a Hudson Valley attorney and do a fair amount of Estate work in the counties of Orange, Ulster and Dutchess. Reach out to me via IM for contact info if you would like. Good luck! @Snert if you don't contact this guy ASAP you're a fool. In addition to a Will your MIL needs her end of life directive (or whatever NY calls it), medical POA, and financial POA set up. We just went through this with my MIL. |
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| I'm not sure about the local law where you are. But the state of Florida kind of screwed me. My mother left me a self proving Will and left me her house. But the state of Florida has a "homestead" act that makes her Will a lot less absolute. Be sure you do not have something like that. Good luck to you brother! |