Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Virginia

Re: Rules for reading of a will

A little bit tricky. Assuming that during her

final 4 years in Virginia that was her primary

residence (which is almost a certainty, but

exceptions can happen), then Virginia law will

govern the interpretation of her will and its

validity.

However, your question raises the question of

where she has assets. It is not unusual to have

a will probated in multiple states, because

there are significant assets in all of the states

involved, particularly real estate.

If there is real estate in Virginia, then it is

a slam-dunk that you want the will probated

in Virginia. The trickiest thing would be if

there is real estate in another state and none

in Virginia. In that case it might be

conceivable that you might probate the will

in the state where there is real estate and not

in Virginia.

However, one thing is a requirement: You must

run a legal notice in a newspaper of general

circulation telling any creditors who might be

out there where they can send their bills to

make an application to get paid, if the

decedent left any unpaid bills at her death.

There are exact rules to how you must do this,

such as running several ads. It is best to

look for a newspaper that has other such ads

already in the city or County nearest to the

place where she lived at her death.

Then a creditor who claims to have unpaid bills

must speak now or forever hold their peace.

Usually, one of the main reasons why wills take

so long to process is giving creditors plenty

of time to show up and make demand. (Of course

I do NOT mean to suggest that the executor

should pay a bill that is not shown to be valid

and truly unpaid. The executor has a right to

investigate the valdity of any claimed bill.)

Therefore, you may be able to probate the will

in another state, pursuant to Virginia law, if

there is real estate there (and not in Virginia)

as long as IN Virginia you publish the required

notices as to where creditors can submit unpaid

bills.

However, unless there is a good reason for

doing so (like real estate only in another

state), you should probate it in Virginia.