I was wondering if wills are really public records?I was raised by my Aunt- I thought she was my real mother.?

Question

In addition she passed away when I was a teenager, in 1988.It hurts me to think she didn't care enough to leave any provisions for me. I wound up living with a biological father I didn't even know.. that only lasted a couple of months- then I was on my own. Her children turned their noses up at me, once she died.

Answer 1

A Will is a legal document expressing the desires of the author with regard to the disposition of property after the author's death.
A will is a private document. It may be viewed by others after the death of the author with a permission from a court.

Answer 2

Yes. If she died in a given county, her will is a matter of public record and can be read by any citizen who goes to the Register of Wills Office. I have read many people's wills both as a consequence of (1) being nosey; or (2) being required to do it as a part of doing a real estate title search; or (3) upon request from a friend.

Some counties have indexes to wills available on the internet. If your county does not have wills indexed online, you can often get the information you need by telephoning the Register of Wills Office. They will need the name of the decedent and approximate date of death. They should be able to tell you whether a will was probated and how many pages it is. Using this information, you may be able to request a copy. Please note that the Register of Wills will generally charge you a fee to provide a copy of the will. In my county, it is one dollar a page, and they will not send it until they have a check or money order from you.

Please note that there are many occasions in which a will may not be probated. For instance, if everything a person owns is owned jointly with a spouse, the will would not be probated because everything would pass by operation of law.

If your aunt was a widow (or unmarried) and died without a will, her property would pass to her children as intestate heirs. Since you were apparently not legally adopted by your aunt, you would not receive a fractional interest in the estate.

Answer 3

Yes, wills that have been probated are public records. YOu can go to the Probate Clerk of the county where she died and IF a will existed or if the estate was probated intestate (without a will) they will have records of the proceedings.

Be warned however that even if she had extensive assets that does not necessarily mean her heirs were required to probate. If all of her assets were held as joint tenants with rights of survivorship then they would not pass through probate.