Q: Can my deceased brothers wife contest my father’s will?
My father, who recently died, had a will leaving everything to my surviving brother and me equally. I had two brothers who predeceased my father—one brother’s widow died a few years ago and the other brother’s widow has become voluntarily estranged from our family. I believe that she still resides in Missouri. My brother, her husband, died in 2007.
I am the executor of my father’s estate.
Can this surviving widow contest our father’s estate? My father named my surviving brother and I beneficiaries of his CD’s as well which we cashed to put in his checking account (I’m named on this account as well) to maintain his home until it can be sold). What is left over is a home and some small acreage that we neither have any desire to purchase ourselves.
A: As the beneficiary of your brother's estate, his widow has the ability to contest the will on behalf of her late husband. Just because she has the ability to contest doesn't mean she will. Talk to an estate planning attorney local to you.
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