Tom McCutcheon – Attorney at Law
Q: My dad passed away 18 years ago and my mom 16 years ago. In hand written Will, not probated, my dad wanted my nephew to purchase their home for $40,000.00. My sister and brother-in-law have put the house in their name and not my nephew’s name. There are many things in the house that are mine. My sister was over the Will in her handwriting. Is there anything that I can do or is it too late?
B.J.
A: I can’t tell you how this matter will turn out but I can tell you what the law is.
The “Will” in all likelihood was not a valid Will to begin with. Wills require certain language and two witnesses for the Will to be valid.
Even if it had been valid, a Will may only be probated for five years after death. After five years, no Will is valid. Therefore, there is no Will.
However, you can always go back and administer an estate. Sometimes you have to administer an estate many years after a death to properly establish title to land or a chain of title to land. The difference is that with a valid Will, an Estate can be probated. Without a Will and Estate is administered.
I don’t know if you have signed away any of your rights or signed off on a deed which may or may not be valid, but if you haven’t, don’t. I think you should contact a lawyer and have your parents’ Estate properly administered and the property would be divided according to the “Will” the state has written for everyone. That is known as intestate (no Will) succession.
In advertisements for various online legal services, the advertisements tend to try to alarm people by suggesting that the State could take your property or take some action against you. The truth is you should know two things.
First, the manner in which property is divided under the statutory scheme provided by law when people don’t have a Will is as reasonable a solution as any ten people come up with. Secondly, we only charge $50.00 to do a simple Will and we do this mainly as a public service because when a person has a valid Will, it saves the survivors and/or the Estate the cost of purchasing a bond which can be fairly expensive. At the end of the day you should certainly talk to a lawyer who handles Wills and Trusts about the administration of your parents’ Estate.
Buckle up and drive safely.
McCutcheon & Hamner, P.C.
2210 Helton Drive
Florence, Alabama 35630
Telephone: 256-764-0112
Facsimile: 256-349-2529
