Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Pennsylvania
I have quite an interesting question concerning my rights in a family farm that was left to my youngest brother and sister by being next in direct blood line. My mother Betty was married to my father Ernest he had died in a car accident 4 months before I was born. After I was born my mother married my father's brother Martin and raised me as his son being our last name was Miller he did not leagally adopt me as his own. My mother and father lived on a farm beside the farm my stepdad lived on which was still in deed to his mother Minnie Miller who was still alive at the time. In 1968 Betty and Martin sold my fathers farm. In 1973 my mother and stepdad signed an oil and gas lease on the farm which had expired in 1986 during that time my mother had passed away.
In 2004 the farm was deeded to my stepdad Martin. In 2006 he signed an oil and gas lease with T.W. Phillips Gas and Oil Co. End of last year 2010 Martin passed away leaving no will. My youngest brother and sister was the offspring of Martin and Betty and said I had no legal right in the property or the oil and gas lease being Betty was not living.
Do I have any right in this property?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Probably not. Since the farm owned by your real biological father was sold, I assume that your mother and stepfather used the proceeds for something else leaving only the farm owned by your step-father. He owned the farm solely and the proceeds from this farm would pass as per his will (if he had one) or via intestacy. Since you state there was no will, then you are not entitled to inherit as a matter of law under the state intestacy laws.
That all said, you need to see a probate attorney immediately to see whether you might have any right to inherit from Martin's estate under the theory of equitable adoption. Equitable adoption occurs when a parent sets out to adopt a child but just does get around to formalizing it for whatever reason. I don't know all the facts and I don't know if there is enough there to meet the PA test for equitable adoption based on what you said.
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