Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Georgia

I have a son that was adopted by my ex-wife new husband about 30 years ago.. when I got sick and he thought I would die he told my new wife he would get the bulk of my estate. is this tru


Asked on 12/26/16, 1:52 pm

3 Answers from Attorneys

Scott Riddle Law Office of Scott B. Riddle, LLC

If it was a concern, you would have a will and estate plan.

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Answered on 12/26/16, 1:55 pm
Glen Ashman Ashman Law Office also dba Glen Ashman Attorney

Your will contains the answer. Did you write one and what does it say? If you don't have one get a lawyer and do one. The will answers the question and you decide what's in it.

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Answered on 12/27/16, 8:09 am

Have to agree with the other attorneys but wish to expound a bit more. First, you say your son was adopted by your ex-wife's new husband. If that is the case, then the only way the man could adopt is by first terminating your parental rights. So were your parental rights terminated? If so, then your son is no longer considered your biological son with rights of inheritance. Rather, any inchoate rights he would have to inherit in the absence of a will are from the adopting father. In essence, if neither you nor the adopting father had wills, your son could only inherit from his adopted father, not you.

Do you have a will? If you do then if you wish your son to nonetheless inherit from you, then your will needs to say so. If you do not wish your son to inherit from you then your will needs to say so. If you die without a will and your son was adopted by someone else, then he cannot inherit from you, but if there is no will, then there will probably be a lawsuit and a big mess costing everyone a lot more than what a will would cost. If for some reason your son was not properly adopted by the ex-wife's new husband for whatever reason, and if you died without a will, then in that case your son might be able to inherit from your estate. Again, in all likelihood there would be expensive lawsuits.

The moral of this story is regardless of whether you wish to include your son in your state or disinherit him completely, there is no substitute for having a will properly drafted by a competent attorney to make your intentions crystal clear so there will be no lawsuits after you are no longer among the living.

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Answered on 12/29/16, 7:09 pm


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