Can I get copy of the will?

[maneki]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? I'm in Colorado, my mother lived and passed away in Maine.

First, I'd like to say that I hope this is the right forum for this question. I'm a bit confused by the whole thing so I wasn't sure where to put it.

Second, I'm not sure what info is relevant to my situation so I apologize if I give too much, or not enough information.

My dad's mother adopted me when I was very young. She raised me as her own daughter and my birth certificate was altered during the adoption and shows her name as my mother. Legally she is my mother. Over the last 9-10 years we have not had the best relationship due to some issues that occurred but we had been working on fixing it over the last couple years. She lived in Maine and I live in Colorado so we never were able to see each other but we chatted off and on and slowly things were being fixed between us. Unfortunately a couple weeks ago my mother fell down some stairs and sustained very serious injuries. She did not survive.

Both her other children (my dad and his sister) passed away a couple years ago, leaving me as her only surviving child. She was not married at the time of her death. She had been living with her sister who made no attempt to hide her dislike of me. She never liked me, even when I was a child, and she always encouraged the rest of that side of the family to shun me. While my mother was in the hospital I learned that my aunt told the hospital that my mother had no surviving children. The hospital was even reluctant to give me info over the phone about my mom's condition because they'd been told I wasn't her daughter. Unfortunately since I live in Colorado it wasn't like I could just hop in the car and go talk to them in person.

When my mother passed away my aunt told my cousins to call me and make sure I knew I was forbidden from going to the house. She wouldn't allow me to see my mother's things. She placed the obituary and, of course, referenced me as a grandchild (guess I should be lucky she mentioned me at all). I don't trust her at all, to be very blunt.

A few days ago my cousin contacted my oldest daughter (she's 19) and told her that my mother listed her as a beneficiary on her life insurance and to not tell me because I wasn't left anything. If I really wasn't, if my mom disinherited me, then that's fine, but I want to know for sure. I don't trust that family at all and I wouldn't be at all surprised if they were just lying about it. I was wondering if it's possible to get a copy of the will? I want to see for myself what was really mentioned. Things were getting better between my mom and I but I seriously wouldn't doubt too if my aunt was pushing her hard to not include me in anything. I was reading something that children have to be specifically disinherited in a will, is that true? I've never dealt with this before so I'm completely lost in all of this.

Sorry if some of that isn't relevant, and I'm sorry if I left out details that are needed. Thank you for any help I can get.

 

[adjusterjack]

Condolences.

Two things:

1 - Your daughter is an adult. If she is a beneficiary on a life insurance policy she should immediately contact that life insurance company's claim department and file a claim for the death benefit. Your cousin should be able to provide the policy number and name of the insurance company and might even be able to give her the policy itself which is generally required to be surrendered at the time the claim is made. If your daughter can't get that information from the cousin, come back to this thread and I'll show you how to get it.

2 - For a copy of the will, contact the Maine probate court in the county where your mother died and see if a probate file has been opened. If yes, it's public record and you can arrange to pay a copying fee and have a copy of the will sent to you (or the whole file if you like). If probate has not been opened you have the option of hiring a lawyer in Maine to open probate for you under intestacy and seek to become representative of the estate which will either give you control over the estate or your efforts will shake the will loose, it'll be filed with the court and whoever is nominated in the will is likely to be confirmed by the court as representative or executor of the estate. Be prepared to spend some big bucks in attorney fees if you go the intestacy route.

 

[maneki]

1. She already has the paperwork and is trying to figure it all out. Thank you.

2. Thank you for the info. I don't have money to hire a lawyer unfortunately so I will have to hope that it's been filed in the probate court. Are wills all supposed to be filed? And you said I could get a copy of the will, or the whole file? What else is likely to be included in the file? Will the probate court be a county court? She lived in a VERY small town.

 

[justalayman]

the cost to check if probate has been opened is the cost of a phone call. The cost of a copy of the file is minimal. I think my court charges a buck a page or something like that (not your state but just giving an example that it is not a horrendous amount of money). They should be able to tell you how many pages are in the file before you get copies of everything but wills are typically a couple pages and the rest of the legal paperwork is probably less than 20 pages.

other things in the file are the application to open probate, possibly an inventory of the estate assets, filing of whomever applies to be executor/administrator/personal representative. There are a few other things that could be in there as well but all told, it should not be a lot of pages.

the probate court where it should be filed would be the county court of the county where she lived.

 

[adjusterjack]

1. She already has the paperwork and is trying to figure it all out. Thank you.

If she has any difficulty please have her start her own post about the insurance and I'll be happy to help.

Shouldn't involve more than a claim form, a certified copy of the death certificate, and maybe a copy of her ID. Instructions should be on the claim form. I suggest photocopying the entire policy before surrendering the original.

2. Thank you for the info. I don't have money to hire a lawyer unfortunately so I will have to hope that it's been filed in the probate court. Are wills all supposed to be filed?

Supposed to be probated by law but, depending on the nature of the estate and how assets are owned (like jointly with right of survivorship) they sometimes don't. Bank accounts are often joint or have beneficiaries and avoid probate. Many states allow vehicles to be transferred without probate. Personal property is presumed to be owned by the person who possesses so if somebody inherits the house without having to probate the house then everything in the house is theirs unless you can prove otherwise.

Will the probate court be a county court? She lived in a VERY small town.

Yes, the county probate court for the town she lived in.

 

[maneki]

Thank you both for the help. I will tell my daughter to come here if she has any questions. She feels uncomfortable calling anyone, perhaps a forum where she can write everything out would help her.

I will try calling the probate court tomorrow.