Do i have a claim to my grandparents house/estate *in KY

[KyGuy]

Jurisdiction

Kentucky

My paternal grandfather passed in July of 2000. At the time of my grandfathers death, he was re-married to another woman who already had two sons from her previous marriage. To my knowledge, my grandfather never legally adopted her kids when they got married. My father passed in 1990 leaving my sister and i as the only two descendants on his side of the family.
My father was told numerous times by my grandfather and step grandmother that he had a will made out and that everything would be divided up equally between my father and her two sons. When my grandfather passed in 2000, my sister and i received nothing from his estate. Her sons took most of my grandfathers personal property and life insurance money. I was under the impression that KY law doesn't allow for step children to inherit anything unless they were legally adopted or it is willed to them by the deceased. I also can't find any online record of my grandfathers will having been filed with the court, although i have already requested a copy from the County Clerk's office to be sure.
As of 2 days ago, i saw in the obituaries that my step grandmother had passed in mid December of 2015. The house they lived in was purchased right after they got married and still has both of their names listed on the title, so i'm assuming it was some form of joint tenancy. I have requested a copy of the deed from the County Clerk to find out.

With the last survivor of the property passing away, would the house automatically go into probate to determine who inherits it or can she just will it to her sons?
I would just like to find out if my sister and i may be entitled to any of their estate or what other steps we should take, besides the obvious of contacting a local attorney. Thanks

 

[adjusterjack]

With the last survivor of the property passing away, would the house automatically go into probate to determine who inherits it or can she just will it to her sons?
I would just like to find out if my sister and i may be entitled to any of their estate or what other steps we should take, besides the obvious of contacting a local attorney.

First thing you need to do is forget whatever you were "told" about whatever your father was "told." None of that means anything without documents.

Chances are that your grandfather and his wife owned everything jointly with right of survivorship. Nobody "takes" life insurance money. They get it if they were named as beneficiaries on the policy.

If your grandfather died intestate (no will) his wife would get half of his "probatable" estate and his descendants would get half. Note the emphasis on "probatable." Assets owned jointly and with beneficiaries pass without probate and, with husband and wife, that often means everything.

Once your step-grandmother got everything it was hers to do with as she wished. She could will everything to her sons and if she died without a will all of it would automatically go to her sons.

Confirm what you can with deeds and court records but I suspect, in the end, you and your sister would not be entitled to anything.

If you had any doubts about how your grandfather's estate was handled, you should have stepped up in 2000. Way too late to do anything about it now.

Oh, as to your question about probating the house, yes it would have to be probated unless the owner made other arrangements like joint ownership with her sons or a trust. But, even with probate, the house would go to her sons with or without a will.

 

[ky girl]

this is the sister. while I know it makes no difference to the law, we were barely of legal age when the grandfather passed and were oblivious to the fact we may have been entitled or to pursue this. we are 99.9% positive my grandfather had a will which included us or our deceased father. If these people told you there was a will, there was a will. the eldest of the grandmother's sons is a CPA and he would have handled things for her. We are still investigating, but it looks like when the grandfather died the life insurance was cashed out and the will or a probate case was never filed. Under local law if there is a will it is illegal to not file it. There is also a good possibility that the deed did not have a survivorship clause but that has yet to be confirmed. either way we believe we were deliberately defrauded of our share rather it be from the will not being filed, or from the involved parties saying that there were no other legal heirs (i.e. our father is dead and my brother and I don't exist) if there was a probate case.

If there was no will we should have been entitled to half of the probate property of which there was a decent amount, also to our grandfathers half of the house if it did not automatically transfer to the wife. we have no way of knowing if our father was listed on the life insurance with the other two sons, or if she was the beneficiary and gifted money to her sons. We believe there was definitely some deliberate exclusion and fraudulent behavior going on with the grandfather's estate and now with the grandmother's estate-we were not even notified that she had passed by her sons, and the sons kept our and our father's name out of any services/obituaries with the grandfather. we believe the CPA son who knows these laws very well has deliberately taken action so we do not receive any money or property. how can the two sons take possession of property when it looks like it may have never been the grandmother's in entirety to begin with??

 

[adjusterjack]

how can the two sons take possession of property when it looks like it may have never been the grandmother's in entirety to begin with??

They may have had every legal right to have done so (as I explained earlier) and right now (in spite of what you "believe") you don't know that they didn't.

You might have to visit the county recorder where the property is located to get copies of your grandfather's deed from when he bought the house and any subsequent deeds with his and his spouse and her sons on it.

A phone call to the probate court in the county where your grandfather died should have told you if there was a probate file or not. Your brother has a request pending about that.

Come back to this thread and continue the discussion once you resolve those issues.

We have at least 2 family members who are alive and well today that were first hand witnesses to my grandfather and step grandmother BOTH saying that he had a will and that my dad would get 1/3rd of everything.

You need to understand that what people "said" is meaningless. Even if they were correct in what they "said" the whole situation could have changed significantly one minute after they said it.

 

[KyGuy]

We have at least 2 family members who are alive and well today that were first hand witnesses to my grandfather and step grandmother BOTH saying that he had a will and that my dad would get 1/3rd of everything.

 

[KyGuy]

You need to understand that what people "said" is meaningless. Even if they were correct in what they "said" the whole situation could have changed significantly one minute after they said it.[/QUOTE]

What he said is not "meaningless". It was his intent that my father receive 1/3rd of everything. If my step grandmother's CPA son felt it was in their best interest to run my grandfather's will through a paper shredder so that they could defraud us of our share of the estate, i feel my grandfather's statements and intentions are totally relevant. If i'm not mistaken, KY law allows for witnesses to testify in probate court as to the intent of the deceased person.

 

[adjusterjack]

Believe what you want to believe. You'll have your answer after all of this plays out.

 

[ElleMD]

It is meaningless as far as the law is concerned. If there was a will, a copy should have gone to you/your father/brother/his attorney. If you know the attorney used, check with that person. Even then, at this point, you are far too late to challenge anything as far as your grandfather's estate. You were both adults at the time. The law does not care for how long you were an adult or how mature you were at the time something happened.

Unless named in your step- grandmother's will, you are not entitled to her estate by virtue of your grandfather once being married to her.

Insurance policies can not be cashed out except by the beneficiary named on the policy. The company is not going to hand the money over to anyone else. If his wife was named, it was her money to do with as she pleased. If she wished to gift money to her sons, she could do so.