Will Destroyed After Death by Black Widow

[bgirl]

My question involves estate proceedings in the state of: CA

What are the consequences for destroying someone's will after they die?

My father died this June. He had an Irrevocable Living Trust and a pourover will that left everything "forgotten" to the trust.

Here's the wrinkle. He married his caregiver in secret 10 months before he died. We found out only one week before he died that they were married. Shortly before the funeral, she cleared most of his belongings out of his house, including all financial paperwork. This included the original copy of his will.

He left the caregiver/wife a life estate in a rental property in the trust and that's all. She has been going after more money by filing a spousal petition on assets that didn't properly get put into the trust (my Dad was very ill and we believe he had intended to take care of transferring the assets to the trust). There was no community property, so she was not entitled to anything beyond the life estate.

In the spousal petition she filed with the court (under penalty of perjury), she claimed there was a valid will.

Now she is claiming the will is "lost" and that she should get a third of the "intestate" assets. She is the only one who could have the original will. The lawyer's notes say he gave it to my father shortly after it was signed. It doesn't make sense that my father would revoke the will and not the trust that the will puts everything into.

What are the laws about the destruction of someone's will?

[aaron]

Does the lawyer have a copy of the will? Does anybody else?

[bgirl]

The lawyer has a copy and my brother and I have copies sent to us both by the lawyer and our dad before he died.

If we don't have the original signed will can the "wife" claim that he died intestate? We do have multiple copies and witnesses...

[aaron]

The heirs affected by the "loss" of the will should consider bringing in a lawyer, and trying to have one of the copies validated and submitted to probate. See, e.g., the following statute:

Unless there is a contest of a will:

(a) The will may be proved on the evidence of one of the subscribing witnesses only, if the evidence shows that the will was executed in all particulars as prescribed by law.

(b) Evidence of execution of a will may be received by an affidavit of a subscribing witness to which there is attached a photographic copy of the will, or by an affidavit in the original will that includes or incorporates the attestation clause.

(c) If no subscribing witness resides in the county, but the deposition of a witness can be taken elsewhere, the court may direct the deposition to be taken. On the examination, the court may authorize a photographic copy of the will to be made and presented to the witness, and the witness may be asked the same questions with respect to the photographic copy as if the original will were present.

[bgirl]

Thank you. This is very helpful. Fortunately we have the lawyer, and the notary who were both witness to the signing. Plus supporting letters from our father about his intentions.

[saraisupset]

Oh I can so relate to the "black widow" thing...

My father died and then we find out his wife has had 5 husbands die. We contacted the police dept. with our suspicions and they wouldn't do anything. They said that "ummm, well he was old".

Your story is sad!

Sara

[bgirl]

saraisupset - It's is truly unbelievable what some people do and actually get away with. I hope you had some resolution to that.

Fortunately in this part of our saga, the grieving *cough cough* "greedy" widow actually came up with the original will and submitted it to court. The rest of the drama drags on as she continues to file spousal property petitions, amendments, ridiculous family allowance requests, outlandish requests for instructions from the probate court, all in addition to her stealing assets both financial and tangible, the list just goes on.

It's too bad the courts protect her status as "wife" despite the fact she upped her status from caregiver to wife in an attempt to rob my dad's grave.

A closer reading of his trust also revealed that the "life estate" he left to her was limited to income from the property only. Now she's threatened us and tried to move into the property to make it look like she has no income in the hopes the court will grant the exorbitant monthly allowance she's asking for.