Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Georgia

i met my biological father in 1995 for thefirst time. i was born in 1962. he said i would be added in his will. he did that. he passed away in 2008, its now 2011 how do i get money he left me?


Asked on 3/31/11, 11:44 am

2 Answers from Attorneys

If you are added in his will, then you, as a beneficiary should get your inheritance automatically so something is not right.

You do not indicate where your father lived at before he died. Check the county/state where he resided and check the court file. Is there in fact a will indicating that you are the beneficiary? Or did your father just say so and you believed it? There are time limits for proving paternity and the fact that your father passed away and you did not receive your inheritance makes me think that if there was a will that you were not included. Of course, it could also be that the executor, for whatever reason, did not know how to contact you.

Your rights will be determined by state law and whether there was a will. As I said, check these documents and see what they say. If there was a will and you were omitted or there was no will, then I would see a probate lawyer in that county/state where the estate was filed to see what your rights are under that state's law.

I don't know how paternity was established here - was there a formal acknowledgement by your father? Was there a blood test? Is there still time for you to assert paternity now? There may be if there was never any probate, but a blood (DNA) test may need to be done if paternity was never acknowledged in writing.

If for some reason the estate was closed and the executor did not know how to reach you, you can go to www.unclaimed.org and select the state where your father lived. The link will direct you to the state treasurer's office and you can check there to see if the executor turned over the money to the state to hold for you.

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Answered on 3/31/11, 11:57 am
Cyrus Malekabadi Law Offices of Cyrus K. Malekabadi

Do you know for a fact that there was any money left to give you from the estate?

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Answered on 3/31/11, 12:50 pm


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