Ask Me Help Desk - Disputing an Inheritance

Regarding disputing an inheritance, before my my mother died she changed her will excluding me from the will. I was always supposed to get 1/3 of her estate,instead she has left some money to my two children (am not sure of amount). My brother is excutor and agrees that I should have 1/3. I have not seen the will. Am I entitled to see the will and how do I go about it? Is the excutor of the will able to just give me 1/3 without going to court? Am I able to contest the will without using a lawyer?

get a probate lawyer asap .and explain this to him or her. Any person in the will can give you a cut of there share . But to include you in will need to be agreed by all in writing.

No the executor can not just give you what the two of you think you should get. He has to go exactly by the will. If you want to contest the will start shopping around for lawyers, get consultations and explain the entire situation to them and why you think your mother was not in her right mind when she changed the will (the main reason a will can be contested). You MIGHT be able to find on that will take the case on a contingency if they think you will win.

Quote:

Originally Posted by FJM

get a probate lawyer asap .and explain this to him or her. any person in the will can give you a cut of there share . but to include you in will need to be agreed by all in writing.

What? I don't understand what you are saying when you say, "to include you in will need to be agreed by all in writing." That is not the case. An estate MUST, by law, be distributed in accordance with the Will. If the heirs could get together, which you seem to be suggesting, and include someone who is NOT in the Will there would be no purpose in writing a Will in the first place.

Also - a probate Attorney is used for probate. Only the executor (or someone appointed in his/her place) can place a Will into probate.

In this case any or all of the heirs can give a portion of their share to a person who was not included in the Will - that's up to them and it's outside probate as well as outside the Will.

The Will gets probated, the estate is distributed, the heirs/distributees do whatever they want with their shares - including sharing their share with the person who was not included in the Will.