Wills
my dad passed in 2002 and his wife of 12 years never provide a will for me to review. she told me in florida that everything goes to the surviving spouse. i found it odd at the time since my dad had told me i was taken care of in his will. the last year of his cancer he was on multiple drugs and at times did not know who his wife was. she now has sold the house which he was on title to and is moving. she has no kids of her own. should i be concerned?
Attorney answers (3)
Shawn C Newman
Reputation Level 14
Answered over 3 years ago.
Estate Planning Attorney in Fort Lauderdale, FL.
Thanks for your question. Since I am an attorney, I cannot ethically give you specific legal advice on your situation, since you are not my client, but I can only provide you with general information that you may find helpful. The best advice that I can recommend to you is to contact a local estate administration attorney that can work with you on your unique situation.
Generally speaking, if you are legally married, you can claim “elective share” and this is defined in detail in the Florida statues 732.201 through 732.228) A link below is provided for your reference. The Florida elective share provides surviving spouses with a portion of a deceased spouse’s estate according to a detailed formula, based on the probate and non-probate assets of the deceased. If the surviving spouse is displeased with the inheritance created by the estate plan, the surviving spouse can instead take the Florida elective share, if the election is made in a timely manner. Under Florida law, the elective share is 30% of the elective estate.
Most surviving spouses can benefit from hiring a lawyer to ensure that the Florida elective share is computed properly and distributed according to Florida law.
The surviving spouse has 6 months from the receipt of the estate's notice of administration to make the Florida elective share election. Once the election is made, the personal representative of the estate is required to prepare and file the elective estate inventory, which is filed with the court.
Best of luck,
Shawn C. Newman, Esq.
Attorney At Law
1881 NE 26th Street, Suite 212E
Wilton Manors, FL 33305
(877) 552-9385
7 people marked this answer as good
I suggest you consult with an attorney as soon as possible. You have reason to believe a Will existed and the original may be somewhere. If certain assets (property) were only in your dad's name, she would have to probate your dad's estate before she could transfer any of them. If probate was handled, you should have been provided notice, as his son. Florida law does detail how a deceased's estate is devised, depending on circumstances such as whether a will exists (testate) or not (intestate) and there are deadlines to challenge an estate/probate so you should contact a probate attorney right away.
2 people marked this answer as good
Thanks for question. You should go to court house or hire attorney to search the public records to discover who the owner of house was. If it was joint between husband and wife-it would belong to wife. If it was just in Dad's name-and dad did not have will-his wife would legally only have a life estate and not able to sell.
If dad made a will while he was not competent-it could be challenged.
It would be better to have attorney sort through your options with you.
2 people marked this answer as good
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