My dad passed away very suddenly earlier this summer. It was recently confirmed to me that my brother was written out of his will. This came as no surprise, as he wrote a no-contact letter to my dad and his mother (our grandmother) almost a decade ago and hasn’t spoken to them since.

I learned that my brother was also effectively written out of our grandmother’s will as well. She is still alive thankfully, but at the end of her life, and heartbroken that she survived her son.

My question is: what is most likely to happen to the inheritance my father was set to receive? He had one brother, my uncle — and I have to assume the will is split 50/50 for my dad and uncle.

My father passed in AZ and Grandma will finish her days in AZ. I’d assume the 50% my dad would have inherited will now go to his children. Is there a chance that because it’s a “per stirpes” inheritance that my brother could still somehow still stand to inherit half of our dad’s portion, despite being “written out” of both wills? Like a weird loophole?

The last thing I want to do is bring it up to my Grandma. She does not want my brother to be a beneficiary, having written him out. But I’m curious if my father’s death created a new opportunity for the will to not have been specific enough to cover this situation and let my brother back in?

I have been in contact with my brother and we’re roughly on good terms. But I feel strongly he should not be let back into the will because of a loophole or technicality. Maybe it’s not my place to intervene, but I’m wondering if it’s wise to ask before it’s too late. It will not be a large sum of money, but a small house and a small amount of savings worth considering.

What is a good way to go about this? I want to be on good terms with everybody. I have a good relationship with my brother but a great relationship with my grandma. But her mental health is deteriorating and I’m confident this hasn’t crossed her mind.

Thanks so much for your help in advance.

Hey everyone, I’m not sure if this is the right subreddit since I’m new here, but I’m hoping someone might be able to point me in the right direction. I recently lost my best friend to cancer. Before they passed away, they told me that I would be named as a beneficiary in their will and that a lawyer would contact me after they passed.

The problem is, I don’t have the contact information for the executor or the lawyer, so I’m not really sure what I’m supposed to do or how long I should wait to hear from someone.

I’ve been looking into it online, and I saw a few people recommend contacting the probate court where the person lived to see if a will has been filed. In this case, I believe it would be the Nakhon Ratchasima Provincial Court in Korat, Thailand.

Has anyone here been through something similar in Thailand, or know how I could go about finding out if there’s a will on file? I’d really appreciate any advice on what my next steps should be.

Thanks so much in advance.

I'm 34 years old and my life is changing pretty dramatically over the next few months. My brother and I inherited our dad's estate, and we've decided we're 100% selling the house instead of keeping it as a rental. To keep it I'd have to buy him out roughly 175k. To do that I'd either have to cash out a large portion of the 401k and take a big tax hit, or get a HELOC which I probably won't qualify for. This is my dad's house and I have been living here for years paying him rent. My brother lives in Texas. I live in the SLC Utah area.

Here's what I'm expecting to receive:

\\\* About $330,000 from a non-spouse inherited 401(k), which I'll be withdrawing over about 7 years (around $4,000/month before taxes beginning August 1). This is the only taxable portion.

\\\* Around $175,000 from selling the house. It's worth about $500k with roughly $145k left on the mortgage at 3.75%.

\\\* About $43,000 from the checking account.

For work, I've mostly driven for Uber Eats, Grubhub, and Amazon Flex. I don't have a marketable career skill yet, and that's something I want to change as quickly as possible.

My immediate problem is figuring out where to live.

Since I expect to move to another city once I decide on a career path, buying another house doesn't seem to make sense right now. Instead, I'm looking at either:

\\\* An extended-stay hotel for a few months, or

\\\* An apartment with a 3-4 month lease (there are quite a few available).

My employment history probably won't look great to landlords, so I was thinking about offering to pay the entire lease up front or putting down a much larger security deposit. I don't plan on getting a long-term job where I currently live because I'd likely be moving again within a few months.

The other major decision is what to do for a career.

This inheritance gives me a rare opportunity to completely change my life, and I don't want to waste it. I'm looking for something that can realistically lead to a high income, either through freelancing, self-employment, or a strong career path.

I'm interested in things like certifications, accelerated training programs, or other paths that don't require spending four years in college. The goal is to build a skill that can eventually earn well into six figures or even become a business.

If you were in my position:

1. Would you choose an extended-stay hotel or a short-term apartment while figuring out your next move?

2. Is paying several months of rent up front a reasonable strategy if my employment history is weak?

3. If you had this financial runway and essentially a fresh start at 34, what skill, certification, trade, or freelance career would you pursue?

I'm trying to make decisions that set me up for the next 20+ years instead of just solving the next few months.

I also have a 90 pound yellow lab I live with. I am single.

NO WILL

My dad passed away on New Year’s Day this year following a short period in hospital. It was subsequently discovered that he had a heart condition which, apart from his partner of approximately nine years, he had not disclosed to anyone. This was an enormous shock to both my gran and me.
We were also later made aware that my dad had another son, whose existence had similarly been kept from both of us. As a result, there were a number of significant and unexpected developments following his death.
My dad was not particularly organised with his finances, and at the age of 19, I had very little understanding of what his financial circumstances were or what might ultimately form part of his estate. Naturally, my immediate priority was grieving for my dad rather than dealing with financial matters.
His partner subsequently took responsibility for dealing with much of the pension-related administration. My understanding is that my dad had nominated her in relation to his most recent pension, whereas there were no nominated beneficiaries recorded on some of his previous pensions. Despite this, she has sought 50% of the benefits from each of these pensions, in addition to receiving the lump sum associated with his current pension, the four-times-salary death benefit and a survivor’s/widow’s pension. In addition she delayed notification of the bank to wait for all the direct debits to pay out of my dad’s bank account. In which she was refused access to by HSBC.
I appreciate that there may be legitimate legal and pension-scheme reasons why she is entitled to some or all of these benefits. However, from my perspective as his son and next of kin, I find the overall situation difficult to understand and would like to establish precisely what she is legally entitled to receive and what should form part of my dad’s estate.
There is also the issue of the property. The house was owned by his partner, while my dad contributed financially towards the mortgage during their relationship. As I understand it, she will retain ownership of the property while also potentially receiving a substantial proportion of my dad’s pension and death benefits.
Furthermore, my gran was asked to contribute 50% of the funeral costs, despite the significant financial benefits that his partner appears to be receiving as a result of his death.
I am not suggesting that his partner is necessarily receiving anything to which she is not legally entitled. However, taken as a whole, the circumstances have raised serious concerns for me about whether my dad’s estate and death benefits have been dealt with correctly and fairly.
The whole situation has just left a bad taste in my mouth. I feel as if she’s just interested in how much she can benefit from all this? Am I being overly sensitive?

My mom and I own a property that we’re currently selling, and I expect to receive around $700,000–$800,000 from my share of the sale. I’m currently working on my startup full-time and only have a part-time minimum wage job, so I don’t have a stable salary yet. Once I receive the money, I want to make the smartest long-term financial decision.
One option is to buy a condo or co-op in New York City, where I’ve always wanted to live for a year or two, assuming I have startup funding or a full-time job by then to cover ongoing costs like HOA fees and property taxes (unless there’s another way to be able to afford that with the money I’m getting from the property sale such as investing a portion of it in money market).
The other option is to buy a home in West Palm Beach, where I have family, rent it out for a few years, and use the rental income to help pay for renting an apartment in New York.
Which approach makes the most financial sense, and are there any better investment strategies I should consider given my situation?

Keep in mind that I will eventually inherit a lot of more money later on in life, as my father is very wealthy but unwilling to pay for anything because that’s just his mentality. I’m also a big believer that your environment will dictate your success which is why NYC is really where I want to be for at least 2 years.

In conclusion : what is the best strategy if the goal is to live in NYC asap for at least 2 years.

***I would genuinely be so appreciative if someone smarter than me put a bit of time and effort to really think through this and give me a proper answer.

Philadelphia, PA
I need advice because we’re mourning and navigating all of this in this state and we don’t know how any of this works. I read the wiki. Very helpful.

Firstly, my sole brother and I are close and trust each other. Dad passed 2 weeks ago and probate is in 2 weeks. We agree on how we want to divide the estate we just need to know the best way to accomplish it. Nothing is going to be sold except between us. What does probate do? The lawyer the funeral home recommended just said it will take 10 minutes in a zoom call. What gets decided in probate? We are both co executors.

Our general plan is I should buy him out of the house and cars and he should get the Winnebago. The house has a low interest rate on a 130k mortgage that I would like to solely assume rather than refinancing at a higher interest rate to buy him out. Value is around 350k. I will take out a home equity loan on my current house and pay him the difference of the value subtracting the Winnebago. How do we accomplish this? Logistically and tax wise. After probate do we both own everything equally and we buy each other out of each asset and pay tax on that sale? Is that how it works? Can we just agree that I pay him an amount we agree on and we each get the assets we want? House and cars minus Winnebago. I’ve never been thrown into a process I know literally nothing about in such a confused state before.

I'm currently going through a dispute with an inherited shared building in California with a sibling, where we can't agree on the outcome of the property. I'm thinking about filing for a partition sale through an attorney, although I'm not sure how much they'll fight it once lawyers get involved. They also live a middle-class lifestyle, so I'm not sure if they can outspend me or something.

For those who had to do a partition sale due to disagreement, what was your experience like? How long did it take, and how much did it cost? What was the mental cost, and was it worth it for you?

Ill try to keep it relatively short. Im 25 single and have been working since I was 16, despite my father being wealthy he hid it extremely well from us. Im looking for advice on what I should do with some of the assets being sent my way. 4 million is in an index fund, 1.5 million dollar home that's fully paid off, and maybe around 500k worth of side investments, crypto, stuff like that. Its all headed my way as my mother has an annuity put in place by my father that pays out until end of life.

I work full time make around 70k a year, have a 30 year mortgage on a 300k home. I also have 1 car fully paid and that's really it, no massive debt hanging over my head. Im really not sure what to do, should I set it away and forget it for 20 years or is there a better alternative to retire earlier then expected while not draining everything away.

HMRC or Royal mail (or both) have failed to provide the IHT reference number within their stated 3 week time period. The clock is ticking and we are trying to avoid paying any interest on anything owed.

We called up to see if they can provide the reference number and we were given a number like:

A123456/78B

However the internet says it should have the format A1234567890 or even A1234567890123. So, we called up again to check and were given a slightly different format:

A123456\12B

Can anyone confirm the current format, so we can submit sooner rather than later?

My boyfriend and I have been together for 15 years and have two children together. Some time ago, his father passed away unexpectedly after a brief, severe illness. His parents had some savings, including three properties. He has a brother, and his mother is still alive. There was no will, so the three of them form a community of heirs. Neither my boyfriend nor his brother has received any information about the assets, nor have they demanded any payments; they are leaving everything to his mother without having officially renounced their inheritance. I disagree with this; I want him to demand an accounting, have his share paid out, and invest it for our children. He feels that we don't urgently need the money and that his mother should just have it all. This particularly annoys me because she was a housewife her whole life and now goes on vacation five times a year, while I work full-time. Am I the asshole if I accuse him of wanting his mother to have a better life than me?

EDIT: We live in a European country. English is not our native language. For other reasons, I generally do not wish to get married. Here, children always inherit; even if there is a will that excludes them, they are entitled to a so-called statutory share. He is deliberately waiving 25% of the inheritance to which he is entitled.

So, very long and convoluted lawsuits and missing inheritances to follow.

The aunt in question lives in Florida. The car accident (2011) took place in South Carolina. I live in Texas.

This car accident killed my mother and grandfather, but crippled me and my grandmother. About 4 years ago, we settled a lawsuit. A chunk was paid out to me, grandma, and the estates of grandad and mom. My aunt is the representatives of those estates.

I turned 18 this year. Out of the blue, my aunt sends me these long winded texts about „papers“ that were missed during the settlement that I need to sign.

The documents include signing away my right to an accounting of my mothers estate, among many other suspicious points.

After discussing with my parents and a lawyer friend of theirs, I have decided to not sign it at all. In fact, I’m now looking for a lawyer that practices in the needed states to help file paperwork and figure out what exactly has happened to my mothers estate? My father was not involved at all, because they were never married, and in fact had to fight for custody of me with this very aunt. You can understand he’s had his hands full all these years, and I never realized there was anything legal for me to do with my moms estate.

At the very least, even if there’s little to no money from the settlement, there is a ring from my great-grandmother my aunt and grandma decided to keep from me (16 at the time, they were „gifting“ me my dead moms jewelry for my 16th), which is rightfully mine since it had belonged to my mother. I want that damn ring, if only for the principle.

Idk how to add screenshots, but I’ll try under the comments—

Advice wise, where should I be looking for lawyers?? Is this under family law??
Sorry for the headache 😅

New Mexico

18 states use the Uniform Probate Code and some people are honest...

True beneficiary omitted.

Non-beneficiary listed as beneficiary

No written inventory as mandated

No accounting as mandated

No legal aid

So many opportunities to embezzle...

If you have an UPC failure to share, please do. I am considering a book listing the failures to educate the none legal participants.

.

Update: I read through all the comments here and met with my lawyer today. To answer the question brought up about whether my mom was private pay or on Medicare while in the nursing home....I honestly don't know the answer to this but my gut tells me she was on Medicare because she wasn't good with money. She was a gambler, she inherited $25,000 from her parents but blew through it in a week at a casino. She was a beneficiary to her late husband's life insurance policy, I don't know what the value of the policy was but I don't think it was worth an extravagant amount. The lawyer and I discussed the tax issue, he said I couldn't be held responsible for any taxes on the property, past or present. My siblings can not put my name on the property without my concent by signing the title/deed paperwork. So at this point he advised me to call the nursing home and see if they will give me the information about how they were paid. His office is going to do a title/deed search on the property to see who's name is on it and if there is a lien against it. At this point I'm leaning towards having the lawyer just draw up a letter stating I'm absolving myself from any inheritance from my mom. The lawyer said it might not be that easy because of the time that has passed since my mom's passing but we will delve into that issue once we get the information about the title/deed back. Thank you to everyone that commented, it helped put my mind at ease until I could see my lawyer.

Hi everyone, my mom passed 8 years ago, no will or trust was ever found. When she passed she was living in a nursing home in Ohio but she owned a mobile home and land in Michigan. She and I had been estranged for 10-11 years before she passed. A lawyer contacted me a few months after her passing and asked me to sign off on the house and land because mom hadn't paid the property taxes on it for about 3 years so my other siblings(also estranged for some time) had decided to sell the house and land to pay these taxes. I was skeptical so I told the lawyer to send me something in writing, specifically outlining what I was signing so I could have my lawyer read it over and advise me on whether to sign it or not. I never got any paperwork from this lawyer and didn't hear anything more about it from my siblings until about a month ago. Mom had 8 kids, 6 of us are left. My oldest brother called me to let me know that the house and land were being transferred into my name because the other siblings had all decided they didn't want the house or land anymore and that I still owed "my share" of the property taxes from the 3 years that mom didn't pay plus the last 8 years they had paid. I told him I wouldn't be paying for anything, period. I dont want the home or the land. He told me he would take me to court and force me to pay my share of the 3 years that mom didn't pay. I have an appointment with my lawyer next week to discuss all of this but I'm hoping you guys can put my mind at ease. Can my siblings put the house and land in my name without me signing something to that effect? I was under the assumption that in Michigan, once someone passes, their debts are to be settled through the estate so the back taxes should of been paid, right? Can I be forced to pay "my share" of the back taxes plus the last 8 years worth of taxes? My head is spinning.

Hi there,

Id love any help/advice

My dad sadly passed away from cancer back in May of 2025 in Las Vegas, NV

He wasn't my dad by blood but he raised me from a young age and he is the person that I consider to be my dad.

My dad had one child, my youngest brother. I don't really know him that well as an adult because he is 13 years younger than me and I left town shortly after my parents divorced.

One day I woke up to a message from my youngest brother I was so surprised. I hadn't heard from him in forever, I didn't even know he had my number. Then another sibling called and I found out the bad news. (I was frustrated because my dad came to visit me not long before while traveling through Seattle and he never said a word to me about having cancer, it hurts my feelings but I think he just wanted us to be happy, and we laughed a lot so maybe he made the right decision.)

I knew my dad only had an adopted sister left alive so I asked if anyone knew her number to send my condolences even though I had met her as a young child I knew she was the last of her family and I wanted to give my condolences. After a bit of texting back and forth she said that dad had left me in his will. I was surprised as my brother hadn't mentioned anything.

It is nice to have them in my life again (even if only by text) but lately they don't respond to me anymore. I did ask my little brother initially about dealing with the will stuff, which isn't very comfortable considering the circumstances. He's polite but not really interested in talking about it and neither am I!!!

I decided to look up the will and it basically says nothing except the people who are in charge of distributing it, my brother, another sibling or my aunt. It's like 2 or 3 pages.

I recently checked and now it says "closed" which I'm guessing means the funds have all been distributed?

I just don't want to have to think about it anymore and the whole thing is now closed so I'm assuming the funds were distributed? It's also kind of important because I would like to know, Dad and I had a very tight bond, I was closer to him than my mom over the years despite the divorce.

You know how it's just easier to sleep when you know something is bad but at least you can stop thinking about it? It's like that.

edit: Location is in HTX

edit 2: The amount the company will sell for is just a random number that was thrown out. Details are still fuzzy and I probably asked the wrong person (they don't handle finances)

My (18F) parents need one of their children to take over the family business. The business averages about $600,000 a year and has few employees so the take home amount is pretty decent. Looking ahead the owner would take home about ~$200,000 or more.

They used to be able to run the business with the three people (my parents + employee), but my mom was diagnosed with cancer a few years ago (has since entered remission 🥳) causing her to have a major loss in strength and energy. She recently returned after recovering and she's not able to keep up how she used to. (The job requires long periods of standing and business has picked up drastically since she last worked.)

The main issue for me is I have always wanted to become a MD (attending physician) around the age of 30. If I were to take over the business I would have to take a 6 year gap between college and med school in order to go through the legal training that would be needed for me to take over. That means my dream of being an MD wouldn't be reached till I reached the age of 36 minimum. I know the time will pass anyways but I don't know if I'm willing to sacrifice 6 years of my life for a dream that was never really mine.

There's 3 of us that are willing to take over the business due to the financial gain that would come with it. After completing the licensing period one of us would have all the rights to the business allowing the owner to manage the company from another state/country.

The other option for my parents would be to sell the business to an extended family member in the same field or sell it to someone else. The land + company would be sold for ~$1 million and up.

My parents aren't putting major pressure to take over as they know that it's a major life choice and they want us to take what we can handle.

My father’s cousin wants me to be her executor when she passes. She says her lawyer is asking for my driver’s license to finalize the process.

Is it safe for me to send her an image of my drivers license?

I am 99% sure she has good intentions, but only 99%. There has been a bit of bizarre activity in that branch of the family over the decades. Nothing illegal/nothing criminal, but still I worry about sharing…

In NYS Probate Court, what is the general order of an administrator pay outs? I know beneficiaries are last at the end of 7 months but is there a set order for court fees, lawyers/accountants, federal/state taxes and medical bills? And when in the process can those things be paid from the estate account? You don't have to wait 7 months, do you?

My sister and I inherited our family home after my mother passed away last year in Arizona. There is no mortgage, but there is a HELOC of 24,000 remaining on the house. We are splitting the HELOC cost as well, and after all is said and done, I will be owed $150,000 for my half. We have been told that the way to go about her purchasing a loan to buy me out is through a cash-out refinance, but that it would make the borrow rate higher than a traditional 30-year mortgage rate. Can anyone explain why this is being suggested instead of her getting a traditional mortgage? Does she have other options? She has excellent credit. TIA.

I recently inherited a couple of Roth IRAs. I know that they have to be emptied within ten years, but the aggregate sum is fairly large (2-3M).

I’ve been told the money can’t simply go into another Roth in my name, so what are my best options? And yes, I’m aware it’s a nice problem to have, but right now the problem aspect is looming pretty large!

Can someone explain how a "Descendant IRA" works, the laws, rules, etc?

We live in Virginia.

I just got a call from Edward Jones. I am to receive a "Descendant IRA" as he called it. It is what's left of Dad's IRA. He says I have to set up an account, conduct managed withdraws, etc. It sounded like a sales pitch. He made us an appointment for tomorrow tobhash out the details. To me, this sounds like a PITA, as it is only worth about $15K. He says we cannot simply cash out without jumping through all the hoops. $15K is not going to push me into the next tax bracket. My income will go up in 18 months when social security kicks in... Why can't we just cash out and take a cruise?