Q: How do I prove i signed a will under false pretenses ?
Back in October of last year, my partner was diagnosed with cancer, His daughter came to where we reside and had been discussing power of attorney with me and I said yes I would let her be responsible for his healthcare should his condition worsen after his surgery. My partner was at a hotel and had been on a drug binge but he knew we were to sign papers for power of attorney. I didn’t bother reading the papers because I was more concerned over my partners state at that time because he had the car and I had no way of checking on him until his daughters husband picked me up and took me to the hotel. I thought I was signing papers for power of attorney and My partner, I was surprised he was allowed to initial and sign because he was acting weird. He was abviously barely here. Turns out I was signing his last Will which leaves our condo to his daughter. I signed that will under false pretenses. And his daughter never explained it was his will , she said it was power of atty
A:
Wills can be revoked. The easiest way to revoke them is to get them back and burn or shred them. I suspect that will be difficult to impossible in your case, however, so you will have to use the other method, which is to do new wills that expressly revoke all prior wills. Then entrust them to someone OTHER than your next of kin or your partner's next of kin. Get yourselves to an estate planning attorney ASAP to help you do that.
Unmarried couples need estate planning even more than married couples do because without wills you both are subject to the laws of intestate succession. Under the laws of intestate succession, neither of you will inherit anything from the other. If your partner owns the condo, when he dies you will be booted out by his daughter. If you own the condo, when you die, he will be booted out by your next of kin. If you both own the condo together, the outcome could be the survivor ends up with the decedent's family as co-owner, and they could force a sale, but this outcome depends on how you hold title now. All the more reason to have proper estate plans drawn up, the sooner the better.
The reason you want to entrust your new wills to someone other than your next of kin or your partner's next of kin is the laws of intestate succession would give them a strong incentive to "disappear" your new wills, so do not allow that to happen.
Anthony M. Avery agrees with this answer
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