Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Massachusetts

Re: finding a will

It is possible that she filed the divorce with the probate court for the county she lived in. Not a lot of people do this, but you can go to the clerk's office and use the public computer to look her name up and see if it is there. If the will was done a long time ago, it might not be in the databank.

If she was married and is a widow or divorced, you can ask your father or check if his will was probated. Chances are both used the same lawyer for their wills. It might even have been a joint will, and the only original is in the probate court. Any probate would have been done where your father or her husband lived at the time of his death. If she remarried after the will was signed, it is no longer valid.

Obviously, if she had a safe or a safe-deposit box in a bank, you would want to look there. Otherwise, you will have to go through her things carefully to try to find it, especially any drawers that have documents.

If after a reasonable search you cannot find a will, if you can get any other children to agree, you can file as an intestate executor. Unless there were special circumstances that would have caused her to have special provisions in her will, it is safe to assume that she would have wanted all her children to share her estate equally. If there is only personal property and bank accounts having small balances, there is a cheap and fast way to probate the estate, and I wouldn't worry about a will.

If she left a house and/or land in her name only, then you will need to probate the estate and file with the Dept. of Revenue for a form saying there is no tax lien to be able to sell the house.

Call (508-755-1538) or email me if you have any more questions.