Legal Question in Family Law in West Virginia

disbursements to children of previous marriage

Recently my father (legal adopt) received telephone call from a child of his previous marriage. There has not been any ties, communication, etc with these children during the years of my mother and his marriage 33 years; except he did pay child support until they were grown. Now, all of a sudden, the child wants to see him.

My father is now 75yo & has Parkinsons Disease. He and my Mother have property/assets. In which my Mother worked her heart out & purchased the most of.

?If my father passes on and everything is in both his and my Mothers name, can these children legally receive a portion of the property/assets?

These people are not listed in my parents will.

The state is West Virginia.

Any info you can provide will be greatly appreciated.

--name removed--


Asked on 5/07/99, 1:53 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

John Hayes The John Hayes Law Offices

Re: disbursements

I am unsure of the laws in your state. In California

if there is a will that is how the assets are divided.

However, what usually happens is the children of

the previous marriage will challenge the will and

go to court to try and get something. I would suggest

that you go to an experienced probate attorney and

transfer all the property that belongs to your mother

into her name. An experienced attorney can help you

draw up a living trust that is air tight so that

it would be extreemly difficult for the children to

say that your father was coerced into leaving everything

to your family, even though that is obviously not

the case. I strongly recommend hiring an attorney

it may be expenssive now, but nothing compared to fighting

a will contestment in court.

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Answered on 5/07/99, 10:37 pm


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