Inheritance Help Please! Can My Aunt Take Everything?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unless you or your father are named in the will, it is unlikely that you will have standing to contest anything. In order to have standing, you have to either be an heir through the will or an heir by intestate succession and usually granddaughters and son-in-laws are not when there are living children. Agree with PP - either consult a lawyer or move on. It isn't your business what your grandmother decided to do with her estate.

Your father (assuming he's married to your mom) can elect to take a statutory share of your mom's estate even if the will says otherwise. You would need to look up your state's law on how much that would be. The rest of you are screwed.

That is for the spouse's estate only, not the spouse's mother's estate.

Oops sorry. Misread and thought we were talking about OP's mom. Yep, you're all screwed. Doesn't mean you shouldn't talk to a lawyer though.

[Anonymous]

Sorry I'm not sure how much luck you'll have. My grandma's will says that each child receives 600k (and 1/5 of what's left over), but grandchildren only receive 10k. And if a child were to die before my grandma's death, we'd still only receive 10k each.

[Anonymous]

Honey I'd talk to your grandma ASAP. Sorry about your mom

[Anonymous]

Let me get this straight...the will says that grandma's estate is to be divided equally among her children and one of those children has since passed away leaving only one direct heir. You are asking now whether your deceased mom's share of the estate automatically passes down directly to you (the grandchildren) and/or your dad (son in law)?

I don't know the answer to that but it seems to me that you would need to be listed as a direct heir to receive money from the estate. If you are not listed in the will, you are not an heir. The estate goes to the living children - your aunt is the heir in this case. If your aunt passes away before your grandma does then the estate gets divvied up between the next closest relatives (the grandkids) unless the estate says otherwise. If you are concerned about this, you can talk to your grandma. I'm sorry for your loss.

[Anonymous]

Move on and be happy you had a family that could provide for you while you were a child. You are an adult now and should make your own fortune.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Move on and be happy you had a family that could provide for you while you were a child. You are an adult now and should make your own fortune.

This is OP. Like I said, DH and I are very comfortable financially and don't need my grandmothers money. I just don't want my Aunt to get it. On top of just her horrid personality, she has a gambling problem so pretty sure all that hard earned money will just do down the drain. My grandmother is clueless about her problems. I would just rather all the money went to my uncle who is a good person. Oh well life is not fair and concensus here seems to be that I keep out of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Move on and be happy you had a family that could provide for you while you were a child. You are an adult now and should make your own fortune.

This is OP. Like I said, DH and I are very comfortable financially and don't need my grandmothers money. I just don't want my Aunt to get it. On top of just her horrid personality, she has a gambling problem so pretty sure all that hard earned money will just do down the drain. My grandmother is clueless about her problems. I would just rather all the money went to my uncle who is a good person. Oh well life is not fair and concensus here seems to be that I keep out of it.

If it were me I would stay out of it. Be glad that you are self supporting. Good luck op.

[Anonymous]

Maybe tell your grandmother that now that your mom has passed, you would be willing to be the executor or to help out the family in any way she wishes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe tell your grandmother that now that your mom has passed, you would be willing to be the executor or to help out the family in any way she wishes.

Creating family drama is not going to be helpful to this family.

[Anonymous]

I hope grandma lives it up and spends it all on HERSELF!

[Anonymous]

I would definitely tell the grandmother that the aunt has a gambling problem. That is the last person who should be in charge of anyone's estate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would definitely tell the grandmother that the aunt has a gambling problem. That is the last person who should be in charge of anyone's estate.

Why? And why is Op so sure that this aunt wouldn't recognize her sister's family? It doesn't sound like this woman with this "horrid personality" and gambling problem was trying to meddle in her sister's estate. Why can't Op give her the same consideration?

As a mom, myself, the last thing that I would want is this kind of nastiness between family members. If I caught wind of that you would be cut off so fast...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let me get this straight...the will says that grandma's estate is to be divided equally among her children and one of those children has since passed away leaving only one direct heir. You are asking now whether your deceased mom's share of the estate automatically passes down directly to you (the grandchildren) and/or your dad (son in law)?

I don't know the answer to that but it seems to me that you would need to be listed as a direct heir to receive money from the estate. If you are not listed in the will, you are not an heir. The estate goes to the living children - your aunt is the heir in this case. If your aunt passes away before your grandma does then the estate gets divvied up between the next closest relatives (the grandkids) unless the estate says otherwise. If you are concerned about this, you can talk to your grandma. I'm sorry for your loss.

OMG you have some SERIOUS reading comprehension issues!!!

The will, according to OP's father, says that the executor will divide the assets as the executor sees fit. There are two surviving direct heirs, the aunt and the uncle. OP wants to know if (a) her father's characterization of the what the will says is even possible and (b) if it is in fact true that her aunt can distribute the assets as she sees fit, does this mean that (1) she can keep all the money herself and if so, (2) can OP and/or her father contest this.

[Anonymous]

My dad's will was written such that if either my sister or I predeceased him, any children we had would inherit our share. It's possible the will could have been written that way in this case as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would definitely tell the grandmother that the aunt has a gambling problem. That is the last person who should be in charge of anyone's estate.

Why? And why is Op so sure that this aunt wouldn't recognize her sister's family? It doesn't sound like this woman with this "horrid personality" and gambling problem was trying to meddle in her sister's estate. Why can't Op give her the same consideration?

As a mom, myself, the last thing that I would want is this kind of nastiness between family members. If I caught wind of that you would be cut off so fast...

You clearly have never known anyone with a gambling problem. Lucky you.