Dad Passed Without a Will
I live in Virginia and my father passed away without having a written will (well he had one, but it cannot be found) So anyways, when my father passed he was married to my mother and had been married for 13 years since his death. Well he had a previous marrige and in that marrige he had 2 sons. When he met my mom she already had 1 daughter and one son. So all togetherher thats 5 of us and my mom's daughter had a baby that is now 5 years old.
(right now our ages are: me-15, My dad's 2 sons 26 and 22 and my moms son and daughter 25 and 22)
Well my dad only saw his 2 real sons on their birthdays and holidays because the normally avoided him. But saw the rest of us pretty much daily
When my mom and dad got married, they bought a house together but put it completely in my fathers name because my mom was out of town during the signing of the papers for the house and planned on adding her name onto them later. (but she never added her name)
During the marrige my dad went out and bought a nice truck and a boat and put them both in his name as well.
My dad had liver cancer (he was an alcoholic) and he recently passed away this year.
Well my brothers (his 2 sons) went and got a lawyer to see what they can get (money wise) out of this whole situation and it turns out since they are from my fathers previous marrage or sumthin like that they get a total of 2 thirds of everything in my fathers name (both of them get one third each and my mom gets one third)
So they get 2thirds of the cost of the house truck and boat when they have never even stayed one night in this house or even been in the truck or even seen the boat. I have lived with my father my entire life and I dont get anything? (It might be a bit more understandable if my moms other children with different dads dont get anything, but he was my dad just as much as he is his other 2 sons)
My mom has a lawyer but he says the best thing to do is give them the money wich is over $50,000 a piece.
I dont think this is right and neither does my mom. Is there anything else we can do?
Re: Dad Passed Without a Will
Quote:
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64.1-1. Course of descents generally.
When any person having title to any real estate of inheritance shall die intestate as to such estate, it shall descend and pass in parcenary to such of his kindred, male and female, in the following course:
First. To the surviving spouse of the intestate, unless the intestate is survived by children or their descendants, one or more of whom are not children or their descendants of the surviving spouse, in which case two-thirds of such estate shall pass to
all the intestate's children and their descendants and the remaining one-third of such estate shall pass to the intestate's surviving spouse.
Since this was your blood father, you, and the 2 other children of your father split 2/3 of the entire estate and your mother is to get 1/3. If there is a mortgage on the house, you do not split the total value of the house but merely the equity in the house.
So basically, you get 1/3 of 2/3 of the estate so you end up with just shy of 1/4 of the estate (22.22%) and so do each of your half brothers while mom gets 33/1/3% of the total estate. This is all after estate taxes , estate debts, and such are paid as well.
Re: Dad Passed Without a Will
I haven't explored it to see how it applies, but your mother may have additional rights to community property under Virginia's Uniform Disposition of Community Property Rights at Death Act.
Re: Dad Passed Without a Will
I think the lawyer says they get it because they are from my fathers previous marrige, is that stated anywhere in VA law books that they get the 2 thirds and i get nuthing because i live with my mom and im under 18???
Re: Dad Passed Without a Will
I would look harder for the will and tell your mother to talk to another lawyer. The house boat and truck are marital property and one-half belongs to your Mom. Your Dad's one half is distributed per the post by jk. Here is a link that may help you and I am sorry for your loss.
http://www.yorkcounty.gov/circuitcou...n_virginia.htm
The link posted by Aaron applies only if they moved to VA from a community property state.
Re: Dad Passed Without a Will
Quote:
Quoting
lwpat
The link posted by Aaron applies only if they moved to VA from a community property state.
What if he lived in Va his entire life?
Re: Dad Passed Without a Will
http://www.finance.cch.com/pops/c50s10d190_VA.asp
Virginia Intestate Succession Laws
If any part of a Virginia decedent's estate is not effectively disposed of by will, the intestate share will be distributed in the following order and manner:
1. Surviving spouse. A surviving spouse is generally first in line to get any assets from the intestate estate. However, the amount a surviving spouse is entitled to varies as follows:
* If none of decedent's children or their descendants are alive, or if all of the decedent's surviving children are also children of the surviving spouse, the surviving spouse is entitled to the entire intestate estate.
* If one or more of the decedent's surviving children are not also issue of the surviving spouse, the surviving spouse gets one-third of the intestate estate and the surviving children or their descendants get two-thirds.
2. Heirs other than surviving spouse. Any part of the intestate estate not passing to the surviving spouse as indicated above, or the entire intestate estate if there is no surviving spouse, passes in the following order to:
1. Decedent's children and their descendants
2. Decedent's father and mother or the survivor
3. Decedent's brothers and sisters and their descendants
4. If none of the above are available, than decedent's paternal kin (as a group) and maternal kin (as a group) equally split the estate and distribute it as follows:
1. First to the grandfather and grandmother or the survivor.
2. If there are none, then to the uncles and aunts, and their descendants.
3. If there are none, then to the great grandfathers or great grandfather, and great grandmothers or great grandmother.
4. If there are none, then to the brothers and sisters of the grandfathers and grandmothers, and their descendants.
5. And so on, in other cases, without end, passing to the nearest lineal ancestors, and the descendants of such ancestors.
6. If there are no paternal kin, the whole shall go to the maternal kind; and if there are no maternal kin, the whole shall go to the paternal kin. If there are neither maternal nor paternal kin, the whole shall go to the kin of the husband or wife, in the like course as if such husband or wife had died entitled to the estate.
3. Commonwealth of Virginia. If after all this there is no taker under any of the above provisions, the intestate estate passes to the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Virginia Intestate Succession Law Fun Facts
* Relatives of the half blood inherit only half so much as those of the whole blood.
* Relatives of the decedent conceived before his death but born thereafter and children resulting from assisted conception born after decedent's death who are determined to be relatives of the decedent inherit as if they had been born in the lifetime of the decedent.
* When a spouse willfully deserts or abandons the decedent and the desertion or abandonment continues until the decedent's death, the spouse who deserted is barred of all interest in the decedent's intestate estate. The same applies to a parent that deserts his or her minor or incapacitated child. The theory, quite appropriately, is that somebody who abandons his responsibilities to a person should not later get a windfall when that person dies.
* Virginia's intestate succession laws, as well as other related laws, can be found in Title 64.1 of the Code of Virginia.
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