Powell, TN asked in Estate Planning and Probate for Tennessee

Q: My mother passed away June 2016 leaving her estate to her spouse. Now her spouse passed this April 2019.

The next week I went to probate court and obtained a copy of my mother’s will. I also learned that the probate case pertaining to my own mothers will was still active meaning never closed. My mother’s spouse who received her estate remarried a year and a half after my mother passed. So this new person is living in my mother’s house. My aunt filed to be the new executor and now she is. We received the order of confirmation last week. Is there anything that we can do about my mother’s estate since her now deceased spouse never finished probating the estate in almost 3 years. Or are basically up a creek without a paddle? Need help figuring this all out.

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2 Lawyer Answers
Nina Whitehurst
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Answered
  • Estate Planning Lawyer
  • Crossville, TN
  • Licensed in Tennessee

A: There is too much missing information in your recitation of the facts to provide an answer in this forum. You should schedule a consultation with a local probate attorney to help you. Rarely is probate a do-it-yourself project.

Anthony M. Avery
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Answered
  • Estate Planning Lawyer
  • Knoxville, TN
  • Licensed in Tennessee

A: If Mother's Will gives everything to the Spouse, then it is better to contest the Will, especially since Probate is not closed. If she died intestate, then the Spouse could only get 1/3 or 1/2 interest. That Contest will make the surviving spouse in your Family's Home very nervous. In fact after the title is determined, you might file for a Partition. You and the other Siblings need to hire a competent attorney, which will probably be fairly expensive.

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