If a father dies, and the step daughter claims?

Question

that the daughter by blood has been excluded from his trust, yet no legal contact was made other than a letter from the step daughter with a copy of the death cert. that states he expired 2wks ago, are there leagl grounds to contest this? Would you?

Answer 1

Yes there are grounds? His will, if he has one, needs to be probated. That is a legal action wherein the court disperse and conveys unto his heirs his assets according to his will or according to the trust agreement.

If he dies without a will, which is called intestate, his assets will be dispersed according to state statues.

I am presuming that you are his natural born daughter. The best advice is to seek legal counsel. You are, by law, an heir apparent, unless your father, expressly and intentionally, excluded you through deliberate means.

Some of the information you are trying to ascertain is: did he have a will & if so who does it list as it's administrer. 2ndly, Is there a trust and if so who is the trustee. If you knew this when you talked with the attorney that would be helpful.

I am also assuming that you are correctly using the word step sister to describe the child of your step mother and that your father did not father said child. (that she is not a blood relative to your father, but is a step child by marriage) and that your father never adopted her. If that is the case, and he died intestate she does not have a claim whatsoever.

In order for her to have a claim to his estate she is either going to have to have been adopted or listed in his will or trust agreement.

To answer your question regarding if you should contest this, depends upon a lot of things. First of all, you are starting from a good position, as a natural born child, because, by law, you are an heir of his and therefore may have nothing you need to contest.

The question is, what was in his name personally and what was held by the trust. One of many questions, which first need to be answered before anyone can give you a solid answer.

My hunch is that your step sister is trying to bluff you and that your position is solid.

Post Script: In regards to Sugar's comments below to my answer, he/she is not taking in to consideration that all the assets may be held by the trust.

Answer 2

a "letter" from a step daughter stating that a trust excluded someone else is not a legal document at all and no honest firm would ever honor that.

after death, there will have to be a written formal trust agreement proven and shown, or it will have to go though probate where a judge decides.

Yes that is a easy to contest case if that really happened.

Answer 3

It doesn't matter if his daughter was excluded she's his blood & she has every right to what ever her father left behind no step child has any rights I've been thru this cause my step sisters tried this on me & I fought them & I Won.They even tried excluding us in the obit saying they were his children that didn't work that was their biggest mistake.Yes I'd Contest it all the way luckily I didn't have 2 we worked things out maybe U should do the same thing.Good Luck

Answer 4

Wow..your question is difficult to follow. Best I can answer is you need something in writing from the deceased. His Will for example. A letter written by another isn't going to stand up. Maybe if you could expand on this in more detail and complete sentences I could help further.

Answer 5

The letter from the stepdaughter has no value. Locate his will. If he has no will, then it will have to go through probate. Unless there is something in writing from the deceased, most courts will treat all potential heirs equally.

Answer 6

If he has made no provisions in his will, you have the right to claim. If he hasn't you will need to contest the will, which means hiring an attorney.

Answer 7

Better see an attorney in your state to get an accurate answer.