My father died in Mississippi without a will, leaving 2 children by marriage, 2 without.?

Question

We have been to several court proceedings and the judge, since he personally knows the girlfriend, said is is inclined to lean toward giving her the estate, since my dad left us when we were small and made very little contact over the years. Can an estate be denied to rightful heirs based on our relationship?

Answer 1

Ummmmmm.....you story does not add up at all. Most smart people would get a new judge..which you have a right to since there is conflict of interest. Or, perhaps you embelished this little story of yours.

Answer 2

A) Ask for a new judge.

B) If your state recognizes commonlaw marriage and they fit into that defenition, she is the rightful heir or at least one of them.

C) Are any of the children under 18? If so the mother should make a claim against the estate for support.

D) I know of no place that would take into account a relationship between someone and their heirs. Who is rightfully entitled to an estate when someone dies intestate is determined by laws and statutes which would NOT have anything in them about the relationship between the parties.

E) If the gf held assets jointly with your father or he indicated her right of survivorship or he named her as a beneficiary in an insurance policy she will get those and they will not form part of the estate.

Answer 3

sounds like you either need to find another judge to handle the case. or get you a very good lawyer. If he did not leave a will. the Person he was married to at the time of death has every right to split the estate the way she feels fit. If he was not married. it should go to blood related family members. if an agreement can not be met guess what it becomes property of the state and they sell it off the the highest bidder. Best bet find a Lawyer.

Answer 4

If the judge has a personal relationship with a party, the judge should recuse himself.

I assume the purpose of the legal proceeding is to determine te answer to that question, so it is pointless to ask us to second-guess the judge. Probate of estates is what we call an equity case, and the courts in equity cases can "do what ought to be done." That is, do the right thing given the facts, regardless of what "the law" says.

Answer 5

If he does leave it to the girlfriend you can just appeal and another judge will give it back to the kids. A girl friend has no legal claim on the estate of her lover, unless she can show that she helped purchase all the items in the house and including the house she cant have any of it.And if the judge knows the girlfriend he needs to be recused from the case. A judge can not preside over a case where he knows the defendent or plaintiff.

Answer 6

No. And if there’s no will and Girlfriend's name is not on anything (the house, the bank account, etc) she’s not entitled to anything. Although, if he had children with her, the children would be entitled to their portion of the estate (equally divided with the other children).

Where's your attorney?

fwf43--Are you talking about Anna Nicole Smith and Howard Marshall? They were *married* It’s a totally different situation. And at the time of her death, she hadn’t been awarded anything. She was fighting the ruling which had awarded his entire estate to his son.

And just FYI, since someone brought it up--MS does not recognize common law marriage.

Answer 7

If the judge knows the girlfriend, he should have recused himself and let another judge hear the case.

If your father had no will, his girlfriend would receive nothing because she is not his widow. Property of an intestate goes according to the intestate laws. A widow could inherit, but you said there was no widow because your father was not married. In that case, children born of a marriage and acknowledged children born outside of wedlock would have rights of inheritance. It makes no difference if your father abandoned his children.

I have made reference to Mississippi statutes related to the share a widow would receive in the event a husband died intestate, as well as the shares of children in both real and personal property of a decedent.

Also, please note that if your father owned any assets jointly with his girl friend "as joint tenants with right of survival", those assets would go to the surviving owner by operation of law and would not be subject to probate administration.

Answer 8

All children have reserved legitime or part in the estate of a person who already died under the Civil Law.

Answer 9

You should request a different judge since by his own admission he knows the girlfriend - this is a conflict of interest.

You have a right to a portions of the estate.

Good luck

Answer 10

A precedent was set in the Anna Nicole case. Though she was only the girlfriend of that billionaire, promises were made. Even though he didn't write her into his will, she was awarded millions from his estate. You can continue to fight, but the judge may be just following this precedent.