Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in New York

Re: Inheritance

Your mother's estate is entitled to receive your mother's share of your grandmother's estate.

Your mother's estate must be divided according the NY's intestacy statute, which provides that the surviving spouse receives $50,000 plus one-half of the remainder of the estate, and the surviving children divide the balance among them equally.

Your grandmother's executor may distribute your mother's share directly to you, or may require that you obtain letters testamentary from your local Surrogate's Court.

If you need additional assistance with this matter, you may contact my office at [email protected].

Anthony S. Park

Re: Inheritance

You have identified this as a question under NY law,

but if your mother died a resident (citizen) of

Virginia, primarily, then the entire question will

be governed by Virginia law, not New York law.

For the purposes of deciding how much to

distribute to the various descedants, start out

by pretending that everyone is still alive after

your grandmother. Or rather, it makes no

difference whether her children are alive or dead,

as long as they were alive when the will was

SIGNED (which is an unusual way to describe this,

but was intended to avoid problems with the Rule

Against Perpetuities). It makes no difference

if those children have since died. Their family

line will receive the same share as if they were

alive. That is the meaning of "per stirpes."

Then, after dividing up the estate among her

children who were alive when the will was signed,

now you have to decide what happens next. You

then have to distribute the child's share that

your grandmother's child would have received had

he or she been alive among that child's own heirs.

It makes no difference for receiving this share

whether that child had a will or not.

Your mother, although dead, will receive her share

in theory, but in reality HER heirs will receive

it instead. So the next question becomes who are

her heirs without a will?

Because she was married to a second husband,

with five children (I assume) from the first

marriage, the amount will be divided among the

five children and the 2nd husband. However, now

it gets complicated enough that I don't believe

I can give a final answer to this part without

sitting down and looking at all of the details.

If she had been married to her first husband,

her husband would be her heir and would receive

everything. But with a divorce and remarriage,

under Virginia law, the inheritance would be

divided between the children of the first marriage

and the second husband.

Re: Inheritance

Your facts are a little confusing, but I will try to answer your question, as I interpret the facts. If your mother was alive when grandma's Will was signed, but predeceased grandma, your mother's decendants (her children) are entitled to take her share through grandma's Will. If she survivived grandma, but died before grandma's estate was distributed, the distribution changes to NY intestacy law, which gives the husband a share or all of the estate, depending upon the amount of the distribution. If the latter is the right interpretation, the husband, although legally entitled to part or all of mom's share, should do the moral and ethical thing, which is to give what he may get to her children. This is not an enforceable legal right of the children, and they cannot sue him to do it.

Re: Inheritance

Mu condolences on your loss.

You share with your siblings the share that would have gone to your mother. That is what 'per stirpes' means.

The son-in-law has no share and the surviving husband can claim 1/3. He is not required to make such a claim.

Re: Inheritance

New York Law provides that the surviving spouse receives $50,000 plus 1/3 of the estate and the children share the remaining 2/3 less the $50,000.

This post is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. It is a comment on the legal question posed by the poster and should not be relied upon in any way. All readers are advised to consult an attorney to address their specific legal concerns.