Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

contesting property held in joint tenancy 4 years prior to death

My husbands mother passed away in 2003, she place her real property in joint tenancy with my husband. His brother filed a petition for order granting property transfer in 2004, after spending many hours and money his brother realalzed that their other siblings had stole everything and anything they could get money for, then they tried to burn the house down, filled the septic tank with bricks etc. The reason my mother-in-law placed her real property in join tenancy was we paid to have a Fed. lein removed, had to get permits to re-connect the main elec service and other repairs etc. His brother withdrew his petition with prejudice, now his sisters have filed a petition for probate of will and for letters testamentary, however the petition came in the regular mail without proof of service. There is no court date and time on the document we received. Do we make our objections to the court now or do we wait for the documents to be served by someone who is not a party to the action? What steps if any can we take to stop these people without spending another 5-10 grand? Thank you, Marie


Asked on 6/27/06, 8:45 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Donald Field Donald L. Field, Jr., Attorney at Law

Re: contesting property held in joint tenancy 4 years prior to death

you need to retain an attorney to determine the current procedural status of any probate proceeding and how to respond. in california a petition for probate cannot be filed without also obtaining a date for a hearing on the petition and serving a copy of a notice (in addition to the petition) on all interested parties.

depending upon the county, you may be able to obtain some information on the superior court website, particularly if you know the case number.

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Answered on 7/01/06, 10:39 am


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