Suggestion Making a Will that Stands up

Sometimes there is a will and it is found and it disappears as soon as it is found. My aunt whose estate I'm overseeing had a will. In the will the only persons named are my brother and myself. I told my brother it would be better to just probate the estate without the will but he insisted we use the will so now we had to locate the witnesses to the will. Only one was still alive and living in Arizona. I'd recommend that if you have a will, get people who are in their 20's to witness it.

 

That's interesting you have to track down the witnesses.

Was this a "do-it-yourself" will - or a hand-written document?

I know so much depends on the State one lives and dies in, but in Oregon, it is much more difficult for the probate court to legitimize a hand-made will. It is VERY easy to register with probate a lawyer-generated one.

It's almost like these days, you can't hardly get any documents registered with the courts without a lawyer or get the courts to recognize hand-written documents.

My will was done with attorney and the witnesses were his staff. This is considered common practice in Oregon and the will should easily be admissable for probate. The attorney also has a copy on file in case my copy is lost or destroyed.

Did your relative have an attorney in their lifetime? Maybe find a copy there?

V/R,
nwlivewire

 

It was a fill in the blank will like you can get at a stationary store. Of course it was California too so that adds to the joy. As she owned no real estate in Ca. and we are going to have to probate her estate in N. Dakota anyway where she did own land, I would have just done the one in N.Dak and just paid any taxes she owed in Ca.

 

I see - or I think I do.

So if your relative died without a N.D. will, is the probate court of N.D. legally allowed to use the California "fill-in-the-blank" will? Some states do not accept another States will - especially "home-made" ones.
When this happens, the deceased is considered to have died "intestate" (without a will), and the State laws of inheritance take over for the division of the estate.

Man, this sounds like a sticky wicket. I sure hope things go OK for you and your brother.

But like I said before, it pays to have your paperwork in good order - and in accordance with current legal practices.

40 years ago in Oregon, I could have hand written my will on a roll of toilet paper, and as long as it was dated, signed by me and by two adult witnesses, it would have been admissable to the Probate Court. But not anymore.

Doesn't pay to cut corners in this department - unless you want to leave your heirs nothing, as the lawyers will eat up a big chunk of their inheritance.

V/R,
nwlivewire

 

In Texas they will still probate a will written on a cocktail napkin.

North Dakota would accept the will. What North Dakota would not accept was a probate from another state. North Dakota would not allow title to real property, land/ mineral rights to change hands without a probate in North Dakota.

There are (not exaggerating) literally billions of dollars in oil royalties that the oil companies are so kindly holding for people (ever wonder why 1,000 small oil companies haven't gone out of business?) because they have not probated in North Dakota and have clear title in their own name. Some of these people need to probate 3 or 4 estates before they have clear title and are unaware that they could clear them all up with a single quiet title suit and get paid. They don't know they could bring a quiet title suit, where the burden of proof is laughably low, for about $1,500 because the lawyers won't tell them because they want to get paid $10,000 to perform 3-4 probates.

To cover all the bases I would have a will in the Philippines and a will in the US with the Philippines will as an addendum to the US will. Just to be safe.

 

If you are married here, you should have a last will and testament made and notarized. Without one, even if you have a joint bank account the government will freeze your bank account until probate is over, which could take over a year. It happened to the wife of a late DI member here. I verified this with my bank manager and had a will made.

 

No. You need a will made in Philippines. Also living wills in USA are not valid in PI either. You can thank the Catholic church for that one. Even the Living wills the VA asks you to fill out at VA OPC are NOT valid in PI. Why they have you fill them out to begin with is beyond me???

 

Valid here? Or valid here, here? I'm not giving up my US residency so I presume my status would be the same as if I were on a long vacation, or taking a course of study. The majority of my worldly wealth will stay in the US no matter what I do as I would take a 70% to 90% beating if I tried to sell up. Don't worry about my wife and kids should I marry or cohabitate, they will get it all (although I'm not going to stress that point) as I would have nobody to leave it to except a couple of small bequests and to found the robert k memorial rattlesnake petting zoo, free admittance to rotten ungrateful kids, ex-wives and mother-in-laws. No politicians though, rattlesnakes have standards.