Follow the legal, signed will. It’s a legal document, the unsigned one is not.
Oh, and I’m not a lawyer. But I did stay at a motel 6 last night.
You seem to have the answer right there. If the “old” beneficiaries want to gift part of the will to the “new” that’s their decision.
Probably a couple of good lawyers could burn up the entire estate in legal fees so no one gets anything unless they are a lawyer.
You aren’t asking for legal advice. You are asking for moral advice. Sucks for whoever was waiting too long for a signature - unless you, like, offed the guy.
That was an issue about 20 years ago in our family. There was the old, signed will. Then a “will-in-progress” was found, but not signed.
The older, signed, will was the one that legally was followed. This was in NYS.
Go with the signed will. Otherwise you get chaos, and someday it will all depend on who the judge is and what he had for breakfast.
Once the legal norms and procedures hit the dustbin, and everything is subjective, it’s a short sprint back to the jungle.
My one piece of advice is to stay out of your "friend's" issue. In these situations, no good deed goes unpunished.
If they want to gift something to the other women that is their choice but no pressure should be applied which is what it sounds like the lawyer is doing.
What does he,(she or it) get out of it?
The old Tammy Wynette dilemma. This is not an opinion issue, it is a matter of law. You follow the recorded Will, or there is no such thing.
I always seek my legal advice from strangers on the internet.
/sarcasm
> The day he was to sign the new will, he died...was not able to sign. <
Maybe he never would have signed that new will. Maybe he had second thoughts the night before. Who can say? So as others have noted, I’d go with signed will.
I’m not a lawyer but I think it’s presumptuous to say he was going to sign the new Will on the day he died. What if he had a change of heart? There’s no way of knowing. Did these other people take care of him while he was sick? If they didn’t, perhaps he took notice of that. Did he ever tell his sister and niece of his plans to change his Will? At the end of the day, the people named in the legal Will are the rightful heirs. It will be on their conscience if they make a choice they know is wrong.
My advice:
Don’t rely on the legal advice of non-lawyers here.
Unsigned wills have been accepted but it is the more difficult route.
Even oral wills have been accepted.
There is even the possibility of either will being contested.
If his non-relationship friend got a house and mortgage payments out of their relationship that should be plenty. No need to feel guilt on the part of the relatives.
Go with the signed will.
My opinion only.
Follow the legal will.
First off I’d get a new attorney
The standing legal document is the original will
A situation fraught with considerable danger, IMO. You do not say whether the atty working on the will is the executor. I would suspect not. By making decisions based upon the new-but-not-executed will, the executor is or would be placing him/herself in a very precarious position of potentially being liable should the original heirs be excluded from inheriting the estate and decide to seek redress. Should they allege and prevail in a case based upon elder abuse, most states provide for treble damages. And I should say, that most of laws I know of relating to elder abuse are VERY specific and VERY “curt”...they are not 2100 page Pelosi documents. They are short and directly to the point.
I am not a lawyer, though I *do* have some estate experience. The above is what I can confidently opine, and no more.
Incidentally, there are attorneys and there are estate attorneys. A “family lawyer” who may have helped draft a fairly simple will long ago is distinctly not qualified to make this kind of decision. In my opinion. The fact that he/she is advising the executor to “assume the new will was executed” is, again, in my opinion, proof positive that they are not qualified to act as an estate attorney. What they are perhaps casually advising the executor to do is really frickin’ dangerous, from the legal liability standpoint.
Very sticky situation. Not only dangerous from the standpoint of the personal liability of the executor, but the vulnerability of the estate to lengthy legal challenge which is screaming expensive and could deplete the estate by well into five figures with ease. And if the estate is cash-poor, it could force the sale of certain assets under court supervision which might be fine, but would place a significant piece of overhead upon the sale transaction.
I do not know what I would do to handle this situation. My non-lawyer opinon would be to get this mediation ASAP. You (or your friend) had better get an experienced ESTATE attorney involved and get your/their checkbook ready.
The original will. The new will would have to be signed
Since he never signed it, how does anyone prove that is what he wanted?
Suchnonsense. Sounds corrupt and illegal.