Posted on 12/08/2019 12:20:14 PM PST by sodpoodle
Last year, at the age of 71, I discovered through an Ancestry.com DNA test that my biological father was a Mr. D. T. Trotta, who was born in 1913 and passed away in 1980 when I was 33. The secret was never revealed to me either by him or by my mother.
She was determined to have a family, but after seven years of marriage to her first husband, she had three miscarriages and no children. I am curious if, after 39 years, there is any chance of recovering an inheritance as a biological heir.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
It depends on the state. For example, in Louisiana the children are automatically in the will for 50% of what’s left after the wife gets the other 50%.
It can get very complicated because of grandchildren which are still in the mix, too.
The guy died in 1980. Whatever estate he had left was settled and distributed long ago. Now if the man died in 1980 and had no heirs and the state took his assets then maybe a case could be made. Maybe.
Potentially, depending on inheritance and paternity laws. In many instances, the paternity of an offspring born to a married couple cannot be disputed or attributed to anyone other than the husband in the marriage.
I passed this along to a couple nice widows we know with A$$hole adult children. I advised them to give each one a $.
That is not always true. It can persist longer at times. X chromosome for one instance. I also have many cousins who are 5, 6th, 7th cousins etc, that I know of through DNA, probably because our ancestors married cousins repeatedly.
I have a cousin in her by marriage who is in her 70’s, and who grew up believing that the man her mother was married to, was her real father. He wasn’t. She has no idea who her real father is. I don’t believe she was ever legally adopted by that man. She has never been able to get a birth cetficiate as she doesn’t know where she was born, what name she was born under, or her mother’s maiden name. I advised her to join Ancestry.com and take a DNA test, with the hopes that she’d be connected to others who share the same DNA and common ancestor. She hasn’t done it yet.
All the kids received the sum of one dollar to show that he did remember them, he just did not want them to get anything.
Everything else went to his second wife which was only fair, she was the one who had to live with him. :)
According to most states, your father is declared on the birth certificate.
That is your legal father.
That was the way the laws went back then.
Greedy little Bastard. Literally.
My ThruLines on my family tree only go back 5 or 6 generations...mostly from late 1600’s to mid 1700’s. Nothing later in the lines. I have connections with many cousins...up to 7th-8th, but not many common ancestors that we share. And quite a few people on my cousin list either don’t have a family tree, or their tree is private. My father’s line is very short. My mother side goes on and on, with many connections I have a hard time believing...too many well-known names that it connects to. Ancestry.com is okay, but I’ve found many of the hints they provide, as well as the family trees they provide you in those hints, are wrong. I only started mine in June, and I’m no where finished with my tree. I’m hoping I live long enough to be able to go back through it all, and correct any errors that I know probably exist.
I’m a bastard. I get called a sonovabitch too.
Go for it, Greedy.
Not so. In many states married women are entitled to specified fractions of their husbands’ estates.
The answer from the Moneyist: “In most states, you typically have a matter of months to contest a will or make a claim on an estate after a person dies. In most states, including Rhode Island, if the estate is closed, you’re out of luck. This can happen within six months. Your biological father passed away nearly four decades ago.”
BTW, I joined Ancestry and took some DNA testing. I found out my father, now deceased, was adopted. Through the DNA results and family tree mapping I was able to determine who my biological grandfather was. The one surviving descendant of the man who adopted my father told me: “Oh, I thought you knew. We all knew and it wasn’t important”.
So since that side is blank, legally the guy was a virgin birth.
The inheritance in that case...
Can you claim an inheritance?
Only if you were mentioned in his LW&T, and your inheritance was spelled out. Did he will you the oil & gas wells on the south 40, or the 11 Savings & Loans in the Midstate counties?
Long Live King Bgill!! You’d be better than the current twit due to inherit the throne.
Sorry, Allen, you're out of luck. Dad died about 5 yrs ago and left nothing but bills to all of his 13 kids. The first batch, 7 of us, didn't know about the second batch...cos dad didn't tell mom that he was also raising a new crop down South. If you enjoyed getting hit with the belt and a voice that could shake walls, you didn't miss much. However, if you love the water, had eaten enough fresh Lake Michigan fish by the time you were 12, learned how to pilot a 35 ft cabin boat used for charter fishing, and most of all, if he helped you realize that even tho you were the odd one in the 7 kids, and definately the smartest...then sorry, you really missed out.
There was no official passing down of Dad's stuff, the second crew took care of that. However, I happen to know what happened to HIS father's medal for participating in Operation Archangel, during WWI in Russian. Sssshhh!
I guess he gets the world.....
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.