Where's the Will??

[Congo98]

Here is the situation. My wife's grandmother and grandfather have passed and the surviving aunt is the only one who has access to the will. The grandmother passed away a few years ago and the grandfather just passed away in July 2009. After all this time she has not showed anyone the will. She has been telling my wife that in the event her brother had passed (my wife's father) everything would go to her. Now I thought that a will had to be shown in a certain period of time and this has not happened. I also thought that a will had to go to probate in a certain period of time and I have contacted the probate court and they have no record of the will being filed. My gut is telling me that she forced grandpa into changing the will with out him knowing what he was signing. She keeps telling me that there is now more than one will. I am so confused on how and when things need to be filed with the court and when a will can be validated or contested.
Not sure what the rules are in Iowa. What should be my next step?
Please Help

 

[jharris352]

You are going to need an attorney. I take it she is in possession of the assets so file against her to produce the "wills." Then you must determine which will is valid. Good luck, this will be a GREAT BIG MESS. I never wanted to deal with probate for this very reason.

 

[Congo98]

the aunt is now going to let us see the will. How can i tell if it is not valid. And if it has been changed shortly before grandpa died can how do i go abut contesting it

 

[jharris352]

Here is a outline of what makes a valid will in Iowa. Valid Will Outline. You need to see if your Grand Father was of sound mind, when he signed this will, there needs to be 2 witnesses (and they have to be disinterested witnesses). Read that link.

If you want to contest the Will you will need an attorney to file an Objection to Probate.

 

[dee_dub]

There's only ever one valid will - whichever will was executed last and meets the formal criteria of validity. If your aunt has two will, one of 'em isn't valid.

If the estate was less than $25,000, it may not need to have been probated.

How can i tell if it is not valid. And if it has been changed shortly before grandpa died can how do i go abut contesting it

What jharris said above is correct - but simply looking at a will really isn't enough. If it's only got one witness, it's invalid. But you need to inquire into the circumstances of how it was made to ascertain its validity. Also, it sounds to me like you are more concerned that it may have been altered after it was executed - and that isn't a matter of formal validity, but of forgery. If these are legitimate concerns of yours, I'd hire a lawyer pronto.