Inheritance from father

[abasketcase]

Hello,
At age 49 I located my natural father and he never denied I was his daughter. He never knew I existed but when I told him who my mother was, etc...he remembered the occurance. His first cousin also knows about me, and my father never denied to him that I was his daughter.

I have had a relationship with my father for a couple of years now. His health is failing and in fact, he is close to the end. His wife of 50 years is also near the end of her life.

Since we found my father, we have been made aware of his wealth-millions of dollars are at stake. We have verified this information online with regards to just his property . And of course the wife and the one child and grand children are trying to make ME go away. He has been very frustrated with his other daughter who is a cocaine user and the grandchildren are all losers, the granddaughter is a prostitute... and he is always very verbal about how they are all, how disgusted he is with them and how they all steal from him. But now whether he included this disgust in his will, who knows. I don't feel comfortable enough asking about that, or asking what I am facing...Perhaps he has excluded them in his will. Can he exclude his daughter and grandchildren or put in some "no contest" clause? He tells us that he does not want to leave anything to his other daughter and grandchildren.

We know we need to sit him down and talk to him, find out who his attorney is, etc...but we just want to know what all to find out so we can get all of this arranged for him, and so that I know what I am dealing with.

If I understand correctly, if he dies first, everything would go to his wife, right? But when the wife goes, would I have any right to any of the estate?

We don't have any DNA test on record, do we need one? And if so, does it have to be done by a certified laboratory or can we just get a hair of his and have a hair analysis DNA done? Will that suffice? And being that I was adopted, do I have any legal right to any of his estate?

My father has dementia real bad so we don't know if he did name me in his estate, or if he even told his attorney, whoever that is, we don't know and the remainder of the family is NOT cooperative.

When I sought out my father I had no idea he had money so my finding him was innocent, but if there are millions of dollars at stake, am I due anything since I did infact have a relationship with him? Based on how he treats me now, I would say that he would want me to have what is due me.

And if so, what do I need to do before either my father or my step mother (?) passes????????????????? And what type of attorney do I need to consult in the Ann Arbor, Michigan area? Do I need to get the DNA test and what type of test is recognized in the courts? And if he passes away before we get things settled, do I have any recourse to contest the will or go after anything after his wife passes?

I realize this situation is a bit out of the norm...thank you most kindly for any help you can provide!

[aaron]

Perhaps he has excluded them in his will. Can he exclude his daughter and grandchildren or put in some "no contest" clause? He tells us that he does not want to leave anything to his other daughter and grandchildren.

He can, but... see below.

If I understand correctly, if he dies first, everything would go to his wife, right? But when the wife goes, would I have any right to any of the estate?

If he dies, and he has an estate plan, his estate will be distributed in accord with his estate plan. If he does not have an estate plan his property will be distributed according to the laws of intestate succession - but some of his property would likely pass to his wife outside of the estate as a result of joint tenancy. Michigan's laws of intestate succession do allow for inheritance by a decedent's children.

We don't have any DNA test on record, do we need one? And if so, does it have to be done by a certified laboratory or can we just get a hair of his and have a hair analysis DNA done? Will that suffice? And being that I was adopted, do I have any legal right to any of his estate?

If he has acknowledged his status as your father, you might be able to proceed on that basis. If not or if his acknowledgement is more tacit than actual, as appears to be the case, given his described mental state, you would need to proceed with some form of paternity testing to establish paternity. You would want that done by somebody competent to testify that the tested sample was from your father.

My father has dementia real bad so we don't know if he did name me in his estate, or if he even told his attorney, whoever that is, we don't know and the remainder of the family is NOT cooperative.

It sounds like your father at this point is not competent, and thus would not be able to revisit his estate plan.

And if he passes away before we get things settled, do I have any recourse to contest the will or go after anything after his wife passes?

If his estate is probated, and you do not receive an inheritance, you would be able to petition the court to determine that you are a "pretermitted heir" - essentially, an heir the decedent forgot to include in the will - and should receive a portion of the estate as your inheritance.

[abasketcase]

Hello Aaron,

I assume you must be an attorney in the Ann Arbor area? If so, can you provide me with your name and phone number? My email address is:
LGlover36@msn.com

I would very much appreciate it. My boyfriend will be traveling to Ann Arbor next month and would probably want to speak to you.

As for the DNA analysis, could we use a hair analysis and wouldn't the lab take the sample and record his I.D. from his drivers license that it was indeed my father? Then could I do the same test down here and have the lab send my DNA to the lab in Ann Arbor?

If I do have a right as an heir, I would think that this test will be crucial to determine that I am indeed his daughter.

Thank you most kindly for your reply, your great!