International Will, wife won't turn over funds

[sylvie33]

What is the name of your state? NY

My husbands grandfather passed away last year, he had been living in Italy for the past 20 years or so with his wife. The first step to her denial of his wishes is that he wanted to be buried in the US, she decided she didn't want to pay for the expence so she buried him in Italy 2 days later, leaving no time for his son and grandchildren to go. He had several accounts here in the US which he stated in his will were to go to his son and his grandson (she managed to clear out one of those accounts even though the benifactors were his son and his wife on the account)...they were to disribute it from there. In addition there is a townhouse and other funds in Italy, some of which were to go to his son and grandson as well, being that his son's name and his wifes name were put on everything ( he trusted her to execute his wishes ) everything is now in limbo...she contacted my father in law and told him she would give him 10,000 if he signed everything over to her...meanwhile the overall amounts come to about 300,000 to 500,00. My father in law and husband would like to find an atorney but funds are limited....would an attorney do at least a basic search to see what in fact is to gain with a fee before actually taking a full retainer? Also, what type of attorney do we need since there are international issues to deal with?

 

[seniorjudge]

From the facts given in your post, you will need a probate estate in the United States in the location(s) where his property is located here.

In addition, you will no doubt need some kind of legal proceedings in Italy to dispose of his property over there.

Yes, you are talking about big huge bucks here. You will need a lawyer in the United States in the location(s) where he has property and also one in Italy. I do not know of any probate attorneys who take probate cases on contingency; in some jurisdictions, in fact, this is exceptionally unethical.

 

[Dandy Don]

Your probate attorney here in the US will need to consult with an Italian probate attorney to examine the will and see how Italian law applies in comparison to American law. Since Italy is where the death occurred, Italian law will take priority.

One problem is that the bank accounts should not have been mentioned in the will, since the account beneficiary designations take priority and that money passes outside of probate (here in the US--I don't know how this aspect is carried out in Italy). Let's hope she will come to some type of reasonable agreement in how to share these assets with you heirs, but let's face it--it was your father's fault for not knowing about this or for not taking this into account when he was drafting his will.

It shouldn't be too difficult to find a local probate attorney (in your city or county) willing to take your case after you tell him of the estate value.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA (tiekh@yahoo.com)

 

[nextwife]

Another complication is that a spouse has a potential marital property interest in assets acquired during the marriage . I, for example, cannot just will away assets that my husband is entitled to share in as my spouse, assets of the marriage.

Here you have Italian law, and potentially the laws of whatever state they were last living in in the US.