How To Find A Missing Will
July 21, 2017I recently had a chat with a friend who said he had a “simple question” about wills: His grandfather had recently passed away and he suspected that the uncle who had been living with grandpa may have been stealing from him, and perhaps destroyed the grandfather’s will as well. Now the uncle had plans to take significantly more than his “fair share” of grandpa’s assets in the absence of a will. The thing was, my friend’s grandfather had told him prior to his passing that he was leaving nearly half of his estate to my friend because of their special relationship and to make up for “past family wrongs.” His question was pretty much, “So…now what?”
A complicated question
Whew……that’s some kinda question! What could he do? And why did he think it was a simple question? The person he suspects of acting improperly (only a hunch with no tangible proof) clearly had access to the house & everything in it — he had access to the mail, he had access to any keys lying around, he had, in the words of so many detective shows, opportunity. Money seemingly is ALWAYS a motive. Well then, maybe there is something to the suspicion? Although, innocent until proven guilty still has meaning in my opinion. And now, after listening to so many podcasts about the wrongly convicted (Adnan Syed, Joey Watkins, Kalief Browder, etc.) – I’m starting to wonder about the “proven guilty” side of that phrase. But I digress…
What should he do?
I asked if he had talked to his uncle about the situation regarding the will. He had, and reported that his uncle said that he had looked everywhere obvious, but did not find a will, so he assumed that one did not exist. That either sounds, depending on your level of suspicion, completely legit or completely shady.
Then I remembered that his grandmother had actually passed 5 years prior and he said that SHE had a will, which means that will would be a matter of public record. I told him that he could go to the local courthouse and actually see her will, determine which attorney drafted it, and contact the attorney to see if he drafted Grandpa’s will too. Also, he could call the county’s Register of Wills to see if his grandfather had a will on record there.
The outcome
A few weeks later, I got an email from my friend with some follow up info. It turns out that Grandpa DID have a will, and it was drafted by the same attorney that had drafted his grandmother’s. What’s in the will? We don’t know yet, but at least my friend can rest easy knowing that his grandpa’s true wishes will be carried out rather than relying on his uncle’s assumptions (and still-to-be-determined trustworthiness.)
How to make sure this doesn’t happen to you
First, if you can’t find a will for a loved one that passes, definitely check with the county to see if perhaps a will is one file there, or call around to local estate planning attorneys. And while you’re at it, make sure a copy of YOUR will is on file with the county as well! The secondary lesson is that when you have your will drafted, make sure that there are multiple copies. Then, make sure that the people you love know where they are. It’s not likely that anyone in YOUR family would ever do what the uncle here might have been trying to do, but just in case…
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