Asked in Real Estate Law and Probate for Florida

Q: My mother died a year ago and the will was lost and I just found it.

The estate is on probate currently because there was thought to be no will. My sister is the current executive of the estate. In the recently found will someone else was named personal representative of the estate and if they decline i am the second in line to be the representative. How will this effect everything? Is the will void because it was never filed?

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2 Lawyer Answers

A: No the will is not void. However, it may face some amount of scrutiny. Best suggestion is that you need to immediately hire a probate attorney and have the attorney deposit the original will within the existing probate and then take whatever necessary steps are needed to request that the estate be converted from intestate to a testate estate.

Good luck.

1 user found this answer helpful

A: I am sorry for your loss. As I understand it, probate proceedings were filed as having no Will and now a Will has been found. The Will can be filed with the court and if it is determined to be valid and if the Will dictates a distribution different than what it would be if it had proceeded without a Will, then an adjustment would need to be made. As for the Personal Representative, you may ask the Court to allow you sister to continue or if the named representative declines, you can ask for yourself to be substituted if that is what you prefer. Best of Luck! Jennifer

1 user found this answer helpful

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