Does anyone know if stipulations of a Will holds up in court?
My father created his will in Ohio, then moved to Florida. In his will he stipulated that if any party of the Will contests the assignment of an impartial third party from the Ohio courts, then that person is to be excluded from the will.
That's exactly what his "widow" is doing now. Will this stipulations be held as law or do these type of things not hold water in the court system?

Where is the will being probated - what state?

The will was written and signed in Ohio and it is be probated in Florida.

He can not tell in the will where it is to be probated. It will happen where he resided at the time of death. But it will all depend on if all for the claused meet state law in the state where it is probated. Did he have it witnessed properly, is any of the claused against state law Also did he try and leave his wife ( widow) out of the will ? What is the challenge being made?

He resided in Florida when he died and Florida will do the probate. The will was witnessed properly and he had a prenup that is in question because he filed for legal separation in Florida (which in a loophole gave her back her right for a claim on his elective estate so long as he died before the separation was final, which he did).
She is contesting everything so far because my brother and I had survivorship rights on the stocks he owned. But these stocks, which are supposed to transferred right away and not be part of the elective estate (as I understood it) can't even be looked at until we get an executor which she is contesting and violating the will as written.

If she contests the will, then the probate court will make a decision as to validity of the will and its codicils and stipulations. If the court upholds the will then she will be out.

If there are assets of his that were held as joint tenants with rights of survivorship, then those assets are outside the purview of the estate and its executors. All you need to to is show the issuer of the certificate a copy of the death certificate to have the assets transferred to the name of the joint tenant.

This leads us to the survivorship rights debate. The courts are having to rule on whether these stocks should be counted in the probate assets or by-pass the probate. We can't even get that done because she is contesting the appointed executor. We can't even get this case opened.
Would the people we are to give the survivorship and death certificate have the right to give us this money as it now accumulates or do they have to wait on a court ruling as she contests the validity of these documents?
The owner of this company was also the executor, he refused and as the will states the decline of this duty means the duty is suppose to be given to a impatial Ohio executor.
Is there any way to get this process going or do I have to sit on my hands as everyone drags their feet. Are there ant time limits on starting probate proceedings? It has already been 3 months without this case even being opened.

Do you have an attorney? If not, you shouldn't waste any time getting one.

But as far as I know, if an asset is owned as joint tenants with right of survivorship then it is not part of the estate. You should be able to present a copy of the death certificate to have the asset transferred to your name. The executor has NO standing here since the asset is not part of the estate. If someone is telling you different, I wouldn't know why.

Its possible that she has gotten an injunction that prevents the assets from being transferred. In that case, the institution holding those assets would advise you of that fact. Nogt sure what gronds she would have to obtain such an injunction though.

Yes, things owned as joint tennents can't even go into probate and the admin over the will has nothing to do with these, they are not even listed and don't even have to be notified to the estate.

It sounds like someone does not have an attorney and allowed the estate to bet involved in these.

Those could and should have been keep out of the estate completely

Do I have to get a lawyer to exercise these rights, because nobody is moving on this as the "widow" just states, without a lawyer, "I contest the validity of the survivorship papers." This because she knew nothing about them. Is there a time limit on how long she can hold up the process of these rights and if so who do I need to talk to? Right now we have a "Probate Rep." who is having enough trouble even finding an executor that she will accept. At this point I can't even afford a lawyer to start, and can't get a loan against the inheritance because since it can't be filed yet there cannot be a value put on the estate.

You aren't listening to us. She can SAY anything she wants. That doesn't make it effective. Talk to any estate attorney you want and you will be told that assets held as "joint tenants with right of survivorship" are NOT part of a person's estate. You should be doing as I said IMMEDIATELY to transfer those assets into the sole name of the survivor. The ONLY way she could possibly interfere with that is by having an attorney get an injunction prohibitng the transfer. I think such an injunction would have to be filed in a civil court, not the probate court, since those assets are outside the estate, but that's really a moot issue.

Shop around for an attorney, you really need one. Most will wait for payment until the estate is settled. If they think they have a good chance of winning they will take you on.

As for time limits that's locally driven. Ask the probate rep about that.

That's for your help. I fell your frustration and can tell you my is 100 fold. I'll try to take your advice. My problem is Florida requires a retainer for any atty. To limit frivolous suits and the thousands they need is hard to get when the estate is being appraised(another problem for another time).
Thanks again all, you've been a great help.

Sorry, as the estate is not being appraised.
Error above.

Good luck and keep us posted.

If you don't mind one more stupid question, since we singed these with our father(witnessed and all). Who would be the issuer that we give these to. Keep in mind these are stocks with a company of which he was the V.P. The owner/President (who was the original excutor as in the will stated, but declined) is telling us he wants to wait to see if the Florida courts count these stocks as part of the estate. Is he the one I deal with and does he have the right to withhold until a Florida ruling.
Thanks again

Ahhh, this should have been mentioned earlier. I was assuming these were publicly traded stocks. Normally, you would have to go the stockholder relations dept of the company that issued the stock to have the certificates transferred. But in this case, such a dept may not exist, but there would be someone at the company (usually the company Secretary) that would be responsible.

But, here's the thing. In my opinion, he has no right to deny the transfer of property. Without a court order he has no legal leg to stand on. But, if he refuses to transfer the stocks, then you would have to take him to court to force the transfer.

One last question(hopefully).
Can my Ohio guy take care of this since these papers were singed in Ohio, or do I HAVE to wait for a Florida ruling?
These are stocks from 7 different retail stores that are accumulating income daily, if that info helps at all.
Thank you.

First stocks don't accumulate income. Stocks merely represent a partial ownership in the company. They may accumulate dividends and those dividends are generally paid quarterly.

I would get an attorney to write a letter to the corporation stating that since these stocks were held as joint tenants with right of survivorship, they are not part of the estate. Therefore, the stocks should be transferred to the name of the survivor immediately. Any dividends owed since the date of death (attach a copy of the death certificate) should be made to the survivor.

If these transfers are not made immediately, further legal action will be pursued.

But you will need to be prepared to sue if he doesn't make the transfer.

Thanks for all the info I'll keep you guys updated as I called my Ohio guy and told him to start the process and I'll hope the Ohio courts can rule one way or another quickly.