My siblings and I cannot locate my deceased mother's will. What should we do?

If you are sure there is a Will you should be sure adn check any safe deposit box maintained by you mother and if known, as the attorney who prepared the Will if he retained the original in his possession. Additionally some people file their Wills with the County Surrogate for safe keeping in advance of death, you could check out this possibility. If none of the above are succesful you wcould publish a Notice in a legal newspaper of your search in the hope that an attorney in possession of the Will sees the Notice and contacts you. Lastly, if a copy of the Will is available, you can try to probate the copy although this is an uphill battle maost of the time.

Check at the county courthouse surrogate's court to see if anyone has filed her will--normally that is done within 30-60 days after the death. If no one has filed, then you can hire a probate attorney to open up an estate and the estate will be divided amongst the siblings WITHOUT the will, assuming she was not survived by a spouse. tiekh@yahoo.com (Probate Researcher)