Questions about a parent's estate stay with us, don't they? This is particularly true if we don't get a chance to see the will for ourselves. This reader asks a question that many others also wonder about. Here's the question:
"I am son to a father that left us at an early age. He had very little to do with me over the years and only ever paid the small court required child support until I turned 18. He was remarried and never had more kids that I am aware of. He passed away suddenly while I was in my 20s and I received no information or contact regarding his will. As a son would I not be entitled to see his will and if his death happened say 20 years ago and his wife is still alive today, could I do anything?"
This question contains one of the most common misconceptions about wills out there. That a son or daughter is automatically entitled to see a deceased parent's will is assumed by many people. The assumption is wrong. There is no such entitlement.
Many people find this rule to be counter-intuitive. It makes sense to some people that a child should be entitled to see a parent's will. However, it simply isn't the case. You are not entitled to see a deceased person's will unless you are either the executor of the will or a residuary beneficiary of the will. Normally an executor would only contact those who were to inherit under the will.
A will is a private, personal document. As such, nobody is allowed to see it that has no legal reason to see it. Wanting to see it doesn't count. In my view, this is one more reason why people need to be super careful about who they appoint as executor, as we all know there are some executors out there who take advantage of privacy rules to deprive legitimate beneficiaries of their inheritance.
My guess would be that your father left his estate to his second wife and also made her the executor. If you (and any siblings) were over the age of 18 at the time and were not handicapped, you would not have been legal dependents and therefore he would not legally have to leave anything to you.
Your question about "doing anything" is a bit open-ended. If you are asking whether you could ask to see the will, yes you could, but you have no legal right to insist upon it. If you are asking whether you could get anything from the estate, I believe your chances are slim to none. In the absence of legal dependence on your father, what would be the basis for a challenge? And just as importantly, what would be left of the estate to collect on?
Lynne:
ReplyDeleteDealing with a difficult beneficiary that is demanding a copy of the will only weeks after his father passed away. Also claims that once the will is probated he can review the "public document" anytime. I don't feel at this time giving him a copy of the will could serve any purpose other than having him ask more questions about the will and take up more of my time. Do you recommend updates to a beneficiary that chooses to be difficult and argumentative at every turn? Do you recommend giving a copy of the will right away even if we are going to probate? How much is the executor required to take in this area from an individual like this? My thoughts are to stop updates and just complete the work. At the end of the process as long as the wishes of the will are complete why don't I just call in all the beneficiaries with the lawyer at that time for a copy of the will and review prior to disbursing the cash. Your advise has been great in the past, please give me your valued opinion again. Paul.
Hi Paul,
DeleteI don't see the advantage in "stopping all updates" to someone who is agitating for more updates. I usually recommend to executors that they update all beneficiaries on a regular basis to discourage the beneficiaries from constantly asking for more. Give this beneficiary the same updates you give the others. Otherwise all you're doing is antagonizing someone who apparently is already jacked up.
How much you're required to take is a good question. You're doing a job, so you should be as professional as you can. Try to remain compassionate to beneficiaries who are suffering the loss of a loved one, but not to the point that you're driven to distraction. If you have to screen calls or reply only by email, for example, then do that. If this beneficiary is going to be getting a copy of the will at the time of probate, and you are proceeding to probate as efficiently as you can, then you can ask him to wait for his copy. You can explain that you are trying to keep costs and executor fees as low as possible and that sending out documents that are coming to him in a couple of weeks anyway is only duplicating cost and effort.
I'm curious as to what is motivating this beneficiary to want the copy ASAP. Is he worried that a specific item is missing or that something specific is wrong? Reassuring someone that all valuables are in secure custody and that the locks have been changed on the house to prevent items from disappearing might help.
Waiting until the end of the process to report to beneficiaries is something you're entitled to do, but I would expect that waiting until then is going to make all of the beneficiaries anxious.
Lynne
In British Columbia, the law is a little different than in some other provinces. Before a will is probated, the executor must give notice of his or her intention to apply, as well as a copy of the will, to certain people even if they are not beneficiaries, including children. In B.C., and independent adult child may apply under the Wills Variation Act to vary the parent's will, which is not the case in most other provinces.
ReplyDeleteThanks Stan for that very helpful addition to the original post. By the way I'm a huge fan of your blog and I encourage everyone in BC to read it.
ReplyDeleteLynne