Father Died, claimed no children in will, asked to sign Waivers

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cheryld

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Hi, Father passed away. Haven't seen him for 40 years. He had a will in which he left everything to son-in-law and claimed he had no children. I have been asked by lawyer representing son-in-law to sign a Waiver of Notice of Hearing on Probate of Will and a Waiver of Notice of Hearing on Inventory. State is Ohio. I live in Illinois. The claim is that his estate is insolvent. However, why was an attorney hired then?
Should I sign these?
Thank you!
 
You should ask an attorney in your state to advise you.
You're free to sign.
You're free to do nothing.
Ultimately you must choose what is best for you.
 
army judge said:
You should ask an attorney in your state to advise you.
You're free to sign.
You're free to do nothing.
Ultimately you must choose what is best for you.
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Thank you - I do not understand what I am signing. What will happen if I sign? That is why I asked.
 
cheryld said:
Thank you - I do not understand what I am signing. What will happen if I sign? That is why I asked.
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Before you sign anything that you don't understand, ask a lawyer to advise you.
It appears in this case, IF you sign you are waiving any rights you have to the estate of the deceased.
However, if what you are told is true, the estate isn't solvent.
If that's true, there is noting to inherit.
Be further advised, people do lie, even judges and lawyers.
I always verify what I'm told before doing anything.
You could call the lawyer, and ask that you be sent proof of the insolvency of the estate, or proof of what is actually in the estate.
Even if the estate is in debt for $200,000,00 you won't be responsible for that debt.
If the estate does contain $4,000,000, you appear being asked to waive your righst to a part of the $4,000,000.

The information listed is simply for discussion and illustrative purposes.

YMMV
 
Thank you. To further clarify - the lawyer who contacted me stated that the will is not in 'conformation with the law' because he prepared it himself. So I also received a Notice of Hearing on the Application to Probate Will where the son-in-law is asking to be appointed Executor. The hearing is September 4th in Ohio. The form asks that one of 4 paragraphs be checked. A box is checked on this form for "Applicant says that decedent's Will requests that no bond be required, and therefore asks the ourt to dispense with bond". However this is also a paragraph that states "....applicant is next of kin entitled to the entire net proceeds of the estate and there is no will Bond is dispensed with by law.'

So..what do I do about that? It seems to indicate that I am supposed to file my own form where I check the box indicating I am next of kin. However, I really do not want to pay thousands of dollars to a lawyer for what could be a giant headache(and heartache).

Thank you again
 
cheryld said:
Thank you. To further clarify - the lawyer who contacted me stated that the will is not in 'conformation with the law' because he prepared it himself. So I also received a Notice of Hearing on the Application to Probate Will where the son-in-law is asking to be appointed Executor. The hearing is September 4th in Ohio. The form asks that one of 4 paragraphs be checked. A box is checked on this form for "Applicant says that decedent's Will requests that no bond be required, and therefore asks the ourt to dispense with bond". However this is also a paragraph that states "....applicant is next of kin entitled to the entire net proceeds of the estate and there is no will Bond is dispensed with by law.'

So..what do I do about that? It seems to indicate that I am supposed to file my own form where I check the box indicating I am next of kin. However, I really do not want to pay thousands of dollars to a lawyer for what could be a giant headache(and heartache).

Thank you again
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I'm sorry, without reading the entire series of documents and being privy to the "will", you just can't be sure.
You don't know how authentic the "lawyer" is that contacted you.
He's not the presiding judge in probate, and you don't knw if he's a real attorney.
If I were you, I'd not commit or eliminate anything, until I knew everything.

Finally, if you do nothing, you don't lose or gain anything.
That's your only sure bet, based on the information available to you at the moment.
If you do nothing, you can't lose what you never had. Yet, it protects what you do possess.
 
The reason the will is not in compliance is because dad clearly has a child, you. He stated he had no children. That is grounds for contesting the will and filing as executor yourself to make sure laws of intestacy are followed. In other words, it appears you are entitled to most of the estate if you hire a lawyer to deal with the matter. Had dad said "To my daughter Cheryld, who I found to be a great disappointment I leave the sum of one dollar, the will would likely be valid and he would get it all. That is not what happened.
 
Thank you for your reply and clarification. I am hesitant to spend thousands of dollars contesting the will if the estate is truly insolvent. I don't understand why son-in-law would hire lawyer to file all of this if estate is insolvent though. Wouldn't the easy thing be to walk away? The fact that a lawyer is involved makes me wonder.
 
Personally, I would consult an estate attorney. As it appears you should be rightful inheritor a lawyer might jump on this expecting to be paid from the estate.
 
Personally, I would consult an OH estate attorney. It appears you should be rightful inheritor a lawyer might jump on this expecting to be paid from the estate. The first thing would be to see if dad had a home in his name by going to the specific OH Auditors web site for dads county and doing a property search.
 
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