Mount Hermon, CA Estate Planning Law Firms & Lawyers

Probably not. It depends what the will says if there was a will. You would have to obtain the estate documents to determine if your grandfather was entitled to any recovery. This advice is based on the limited facts that you have provided, additional facts may change the advice. We are not providing you legal advice, rather we are responding to your set of facts based on general legal principles. You should not rely on this information without consulting an attorney and providing the attorney with a complete set of facts. We provide a reduced rate initial consultation for $35.00, if you would like a more complete answer. We are not representing you in this or any other matter, unless and until you and we have entered into a written agreement for services.

Every will should be destroyed as soon as a new one is executed. The lawyer who drafted the will has an attorney/client relationship with his/her clients and cannot release the work done for her without her express permission or as required by law. A notary would have no reason to keep a copy of the will. Chances are good that a copy of the old will no longer exists. And a surviving spouse often drafts a new will within a few months of the death of the other spouse for a number of valid reasons. One can suffer from some degree of dementia and still be legally competent to sign a legal document.

It all depends on how they hold title. If it is as tenants in common, then his sister's share would pass through her estate. If it is held as joint tenants with rights of survivorship, then the last person standing would be the owner.