What is the best way to contest a will or if there even is one to find out?

Question

Here's the brief story: My grandfather passed away two days ago. My aunt somehow was appointed to be executor of the estate. I believe she "paid herself" for taking care of him. The hurtful thing is that I found his death notice in the paper and no one contacted me. I believe also that she may not have claimed everything on income taxes and that she starved him to death. What is the correct legal route in this situation?

Answer 1

If your grandfather passed away and your aunt was appointed executrix of the estate, you can get a copy of the will either from her, the attorney assisting her in the estate administration, or from the Office of the Register of Wills of the county where the will was probated.

There are apparently two legal issues here:

(1) If she was "taking care of" grandfather as an attorney-in-fact (agent) under a power of attorney, was it proper that she was paying herself for taking care of him? What was his money used for while she was agent?

(2) Are there any grounds for filing a will contest?

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If she was acting under a power of attorney to pay bills, etc., a family member such as yourself may be able to petition the Orphans' Court (Probate or Surrogate's Court) to require her to file an accounting. Please note that the terms of the power of attorney may have given her the right to make "qualified" gifts to anybody, including herself. Also, she may have actually spent hours giving personal care to grandpa. Everything will be brought to light once an accounting is prepared and submitted to the court for audit.

You will not know whether or not there will be a basis for a will contest without actually reading the will. You will need to get a copy, as I stated above.

The grounds for a will contest, at least in Pennsylvania, are as follows:

(1) Lack of mental capacity;
(2) Undue influence;
(3) Improper execution of the will; and
(4) Fraud.

Please note that your grandfather was not required to give you *anything* under the terms of his will. He could have given his assets to any family member or members, a neighbor, a friend, or any one of hundreds of charities. Just the fact that you may have gotten nothing is not grounds for a will contest.

If you want to file a will contest, be prepared to pay a lot of money upfront to an attorney in the form of a retainer fee. I know attorneys in Philadelphia and Harrisburg who regularly charge a retainer of $15,000 before they will really dig into investigating and preparing a will contest case.

My recommendation to you is to get a copy of the will, find out if the aunt was attorney-in-fact (agent) under a power of attorney and was paying bills for grandpa, and hire a lawyer for a one or two hour consultation to advise you whether it is best to proceed any further to either petition for an accounting of the attorney-in-fact or to file a will contest proceeding. He may be able to get quick answers by making telephone calls or writing letters on your behalf.

You will not be able to accomplish anything without a lawyer.

Answer 2

This seems like a very complicated situation. Your aunt may have been appointed the executor, or she may have forced her way in. She may or may not be taking money illegally. If you truly think she is doing something wrong, first contact her and try to sort things out, because there may just be a simple misunderstanding. If she is non-cooperative, tell her you have the right to know what is going on and that you will contact a lawyer to represent you if she does not show you proper documents accounting for all the money and property your grandfather left behind. Then, if that gets no results, go ahead and get yourself an attorney to figure out what is going on. But be aware that this will most likely permanently damage family relationships, so do it as a last resort only if absolutely necessary.

Oh, and please accept my condolences on the death of your grandfather .

Answer 3

I once did a caramel apple eating contest for a big group. We got three jock type volunteers. The apples were on a table 50 yards from the guys. They had to run down and whoever ate the apple first won. The catch was that it was actually a caramel onion. I still laugh every time I remember that day 30 years ago. I feel a little bad about it but it was really funny. If you can get the guys out of the room and clue the rest of the group into what's happening they'll all be rolling on the floor.

Answer 4

If the case involves starving someone to death, then call the police. If she is the executor of the estate, your grandfather had to have given her that designation. Therefore, there is a will and he chose her as the executor. If she is trying to get around the estate tax, then that may be something else to discuss with law enforcement.

Answer 5

If there IS a will then it will show up in probate and that file is public record so go to the clerk of the probate court and ask for a copy.

If there is no probate, then you need to file INTESTATE probate and be asked to be appointed executor.

Without Letters Testimentary no one has the power to act on behalf of the estate. And without joint ownership in the assets of the estate, your aunt would have committed a crime.

There is not enough information to form a legal opinion but you can start looking with this information.