My father passed away and he said in his will that I give my office to my son. He had a joint tennancy with other occupants. There were 5 offices and 5 tennants. To complicate matters my father was encorporated so the office technically belonged to the corporation. The estate attorney is telling me that because he was encorporated he cannot give the office in the will. That doesnt make any sense to me. Can some one please help me or point me in the right direction. I spoke with a attorney who charged me close to a thousand dollars to do some research and he basically told me that he thinks I have a case. But he wants to charge me per hour basis. I can't afford that. any help is appreciated. Thanks.
2006-09-19 10:01:15 · 5 answers · asked by fmoonda 2 in Politics & Government ➔ Law & Ethics
If you have already paid an attorney, you have an attorney--disregard the following.
You HAVE to hire an attorney. You cannot afford not to. I'm an attorney and I would HAVE to hire an attorney. And I'm not licensed in PA.
The easy answer is that your father can give you anything he actually owned. If he had land owned by a corporation and he had shares in that corporation, then he could give you whatever he had to give (the corporation will argue that he had to have given you shares of the corp. Your atty will argue that he did). He could NEVER give you the entire office, only his undivided 1/5th, at any rate.
2006-09-19 10:09:46 · answer #1 · answered by ? 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I work for a Estate Planning law firm. Hopefully your father had a trust and not just a Will as a trust prevents probate. Because the joint tenancy was incorporated, he can not just give the office in the will. He would have to deed his portion of the office over to himself and then from himself to his trust ect. There is a procedure for showing chain of ownership. Furthermore I believe that you could have a Affidavit - death of Trustee (your father) filed with the recorders office and then have the property deeded over to you. You really do need to go meet with a competent attorney to discuss this. It seems like you are heading for probate.. and that is a costly and draining process. Any good estate planning attorney should be able to meet with you and discuss your options without charging you thousands of dollars just to research that. That is ridiculous!
2006-09-19 10:14:21 · answer #2 · answered by "Choo" Love 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I am not in your state.
Joint Tennancy by the Enitirety with Right of Survivorship is the only tennancy in my state that allows the owners next of kin to posess the property.
Find out the different tennancies in PA
Start with: Joint Tennancy, Joint Tennancy by the Enitirety with Right of Survivorship and Tennancy in Common.
This is not legal advice and I am not an attorney.
2006-09-19 10:12:00 · answer #3 · answered by profile image 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The company is essentially considered its own individual. The company owns the property, not your father. He cannot will something that belongs to someone else (such as to the company).
What you need to do is determine who now owns the company.
The company owns a portion of the property as do the other tennants.
2006-09-19 10:03:57 · answer #4 · answered by Plasmapuppy 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Tenancy in common means partial ownership.
A tenant in common can give away (by conveyance or will) whatever they own. But the new recipient just becomes a tenant in common with the other remaining owners.
A corporation is a separate legal entity. It ows property in its own name. So, a person cannot give away what the corporation owns.
2006-09-19 10:02:59 · answer #5 · answered by coragryph 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋