LEGAL AIRES TO ESTATE

Was just recently informed that my father passed away four months ago and his current (wife?) mailed a copy of a hand written will witnessed by only her daughter and no notary stateing that he leaves all his worldly belongings are to go to her. She mailed a legal notice for some of the possible 9 to 11 aires to sign off  any rights to his estate. We are having problems finding a marriage certificate proving that they were legally married. How would we go about getting information from the courts/probate on his estate and what rights do the legal aires have to his estate. We have located his residence in Cherookee County, Georgia and this is where he died.

Probably doesn't matter if he was married to her or not. A person can leave his estate to anyone he chooses and (except maybe for Louisiana) there is no legal obligation to leave anything to his children.

That being said, it looks like the will isn't valid.

According to GA statute 53-4-20:

• (b) A will shall be attested and subscribed in the presence of the testator by two or more competent witnesses.

So, if the will is not valid, and your father died intestate, then you and your siblings have a claim to his estate.

And that's when it becomes an issue as to whether she was legally his wife. If she was, she would also have a claim under intestacy. If she wasn't, she wouldn't.

Call the GA Dept of Community and see if they have a record of his marriage:

http://health.state.ga.us/programs/vitalrecords/marriage.asp

Regardless of that outcome, if you want to protect your (and your siblings') interest in the estate you (or one of your siblings) are going to have to go to GA and open probate under intestacy and petition the court to appoint one of you as representative of the estate.

But if you aren't willing or able to do that you will have to hire a lawyer in GA to do it for you.

Laymans take: Its hard to divine if this is just sloppy or its a falsified/defective  will---and you need to wise up and dig deeper.

1. Ga requires two actual witnesses not one ---but a notary is not required. Witness must be over 14 and competent.

2.Georgia requires that a witness be disinterested  OR the share going to witness is VOID--unless there are two more independent witnesses. To have the beneficiary's child sign as witness smells but I'm not sure its illegal --smells!

3. Note, witness(s)  must actually see maker sign the will.

4. Rules for a holographic will may differ--I don't know

5. If Dad left all his belongs to Sara Smith and the will is otherwsie valid doesn't make any difference if they were married--BUT if he left all his belongings to his wife--and he was not married to her--will thats a different story.

6. Note that in GA even if married, if the will is tossed as defective  the spouse doesn't come out very well under intestacy. GA is not very kind to a spouse!

7. I'd do more homework before I signed off on anything.

Again, a mere lay guess: A holographic will per se in GA is NOT valid  unless it is properly witnessed and the law is pretty clear it takes 2 witnesses.