My sister's FIL recently passed away and left all his possessions to his only child, my sister's husband. The thing is this, the FIL was a widower and had remarried, the new wife is now contesting the will, stating that she has legal right to all her husband's possessions.
Things with the new wife came to light after she refused to put her husband in assisted living due to his poor health, even though several doctors recommended placement. My BIL went to get his dad earlier this year to offer respite for the new wife, but she refused to allow my BIL into the home to gather items his dad would need during his (dad's) stay, only allowed him to pick up his dad and leave. She then demanded my BIL bring his father home because the dad had changed his will to reflect his son as DPOA, giving the son legal right to make health care decisions for him.
Can she win the contest of the will? Many people know how she was with money and do not want her to have any legal rights now.
2007-09-11 01:39:39 · 3 answers · asked by ripsgracie 5 in Politics & Government ➔ Law & Ethics
Open, I know the new wife and the FIL had things they got together during their marriage and I think she should be entitled to that. The bulk of what my BIL would get had belonged to his own mother, but the wife thinks otherwise about this.
The DPOA wasn't in the original will, it came about within the past year since the dad needed health care and the wife didn't feel he did. The dad signed the DPOA because he knew he needed health care and knew his son would go with the doctors. The wife didn't even have a sitter for her husband, he was left alone a majority of the day and was unable to properly care for himself - he would call a neighbor to help him - so he chose his son as his DPOA. I just can't understand why the wife would not either hire a sitter or consider assisted living.
2007-09-11 02:08:30 · update #1
It depends on the laws of the jurisdiction, but your answer is generally in two parts.
One, to contest the will is to challenge it's validity as a will. If she is successful, the property would be distributed as if he had no will at all. I can't guess whether or not there is a technical violation of the laws of wills, but if he hired a lawyer to draft it, it is probably solid, unless the act of remarrying automatically invalidates a will in Florida. If the will is invalid, she will get something, but probably not all.
Two, the will may be conceded as valid, but she might be able to "elect against the will". That means that being left out of a will, certain persons (usually only spouses) can demand the same share they would have gotten under the laws of intestacy, by giving up whatever the will would have given them, if anything.
She'll get something, the question is, "what?"
Bottom line is that by marrying her, the fellow did want to share his life and property with her to some degree. Until the property is probated, it's still (more or less) his to share. He'd have wanted her to have something, or he wouldn't have married her. The kid needs to be more respectful of the man and accept the fact that she's going to get something because he wanted it that way, regardless of the will.
2007-09-11 01:56:09 · answer #1 · answered by open4one 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You ask a complicated legal question and in addition may have either incorrect or insufficient information.
Contact a lawyer. You will probably need to anyway,
2007-09-11 01:46:49 · answer #2 · answered by DrIG 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
This has already been answered
2007-09-11 03:00:33 · answer #3 · answered by hexeliebe 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋