My dad and stepmom recently had their wills reviewed and then finalized-I am so relieved, because I have a stepsister who is ALL about money, what she can get, and who refers to my dad and stepmom's home as her mom's. IT IS NOT-it belongs to my dad and my stepmom equally. My dad was getting worried, and he asked my stepmom to have the wills reviewed.

Here is what is happening: if my stepmom passes first, my dad gets the house. My stepsister has NO claim to the house at all. Now, she probably does not realize this, but it is legal, and there is nothing she can do. The only stipulation is that she is able to take from the home whatever her mother has left to her. My dad will let her take what she wants; the get along, but he did not want to have a problem with her trying to stake claim to the home. That was my concern. She would throw him out in a hearbeat. She refuses to work, and is in the process of divorcing her husband.

If something happens to my dad first, my stepmom gets the house and I can take whatever my dad has left to me. I have no claim to the house. It becomes my stepmom's.

If something happens to both of them at the same time, the house is divided equally between me and my stepsister. I would dread this scenario, because she is impossible to deal with.

I expect the wills to stay this way. Like I said, my main concern is that my dad is not thrown out of the home. My stepsister has already mentioned what she wants to do with the house someday. She is not kidding. She is going to be in for a shocker. She cannot contest it-well, she can try, but she won't win.

I do not think you can do anything. The house became your stepdad's when your mom died. If she had wanted you to have a share, that had to have been stipulated. It was not, though-the house went solely to your stepdad. He can leave it to whomever he wants.

ETA: My dad's insurance is going to stepmom, with me as secondary beneficiary. Stepmom is doing the same thing-my dad first, daughter second. My dad does not have much more. My stepmom has a little bit more, all going to her daughter. Everything is written as such. I think a lot of the assets are going to be eaten up by healthcare/medical costs down the road. The main thing here is the home, which is an average sized one, but crucial for either of them to stay in.

I am almost a decade older than my DH although his parents both died very young (50 and 60) and my relatives live until almost 90. Who knows if I get hit by a bus tomorrow. I almost died this summer from a simple infection (sepsis) - spent a week on life support.

My fear was that if DH inherited and then died early his son would inherit. The son with his alcohol/liver issues will "not make old bones" which means BM would get all of MY money. eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek

I had to make sure that did not happen.

She should have used a Living Trust. I'm amazed any attorney would use a will under these circumstances. If her property was held in her name alone it should stand the test but if title has been conveyed to him he can do as he pleases.

I'd first contact the attorney who wrote her will and tactfully explain that if he his work doesn't hold up maybe he'll be the one paying off the kids.

Put it in trust. Here's what We did. When I die, if dh is still living, 1/2 my money goes into a spousal trust from which he will draw the interest and live on. When he dies, the principle of the spousal trust is added to the other half that is left in my family trust for my three kids. I own our two homes. He keeps them until he passes, at which point they are to be sold and the profit shared by my three kids. His children get nothing from my estate. If he goes first, I am beneficiary of all his life Ins and he leaves everything to me to distribute to his children as he has last designated. So they'll get something from him. He has also designated certain items to my children, and part of his parents estate, as my kids are closer to his parents than his own. It's odd but it is what it is. His kids are adults. They know the difference between bad behavior, pas by mom, and being decent human beings. They choose to be evil, refuse to be part of our family and reject him at every opportunity. My kids love him, and respect him. His don't. Only other step parents can possibly understand this.

Inheriting is not an automatic right. I, as a child from a first marriage, will probably get short-changed on the inheritance thing. Both of my parents remarried and had new batches of kids with their new spouses, so guess what? I go without, because that is just the way it is when you have step parents & half siblings. If my DH passes before me, do you honestly think I'm going to give his kids any of my money? NO. I will not spend my entire adult life working and saving, just so the ex wife's kids can be taken care of after I'm dead.

Absolutely, no money for the my step son from me. I will not work a whole life so his biological mother can lavish herself in my money...More or less...it doesn't matter. It is my money. If my husband goes before me, he will let me in charge of distributing the finances for his son and whatever other children we will have...currently working on having my first biological child. My husband arranged so my step son will receive a certain amount of money until graduating from college or getting his own job. His biological mother will not CLAIM any money on my steps son's name in case he wants to stay with her (which I doubt it).

So your stepfather can name whoever he wants him to inherit his assets...unless otherwise specified by your mother.

Oh, btw, my Twit gets nadda, nothing, not even an honorable (snicker) mention. Though I have left small gifts to her two siblings, nothing big. My DD gets the majority of the $$ and my DH gets an amount, annually, to pay bills and live in the way we are accustomed. But then mine is a trust. Twit cannot contest it but I bet she has a coniption fit when she finds out. I told DD to make sure she secures all my personal property, inheritnce antiques, etc., right away so Twit can't get her grubby paws on anything and if Twit takes anything....sue her!

DH doesn't particularly like it, but hey, it's not his stuff or his money to worry about.

If my marriage manages to stand the test of time and the constant test of skid, I can guarantee you he will not get a damn thing. I live in hell because of him and his BM, and I would rather our money and assets, whatever we acquire, be set on fire than he ever get to enjoy any of it. He is already a spoiled, entitled, give me give me give me, unappreciative, destructive little being, just like his BM, so he can rely on her for an inheritance. Not my DH and not me.

My mother passed away four months ago.  My stepfather started a nationwide hunt for a new wife immediately, and I expect he will find one soon.  If my mother had a will, my brothers and I don't have a copy.  My stepbrother told my kids at the memorial service that the house is his when his dad goes.  I talked to a lawyer who said my brothers and I have no legal rights to an inheritance when stepfather goes.  Everything that was in both of their names automatically goes to the stepdad, and he is then free to leave everything to whomever he wants to leave it to.  My mother worked hard all of her life.  We believe they at least had a verbal agreement to take care of each other's kids upon death, but we don't anticipate he will do so.

I believe that you can contest the Will and in all likelihood will be successful.  Do not talk with your SF about this.  Just get a lawyer and address it immediately and aggressively.

Your mom's wishes are important.

My parents Will names each other as sole heir and beneficiary until they both pass at which point their estate is split equally between my brother and I.   A number of years ago my mom was going to change the Will to establish a family trust with all of their direct decedents having equal shares.  My brother was not supportive of that at all.   He has 3 children and I have no BKs.  He did not feel that it was fair for he and his kids to get 4/5ths of my parents estate because I chose not to have children.  He told mom that if she insisted on going the family trust route that he would decline all of the shares for himself and his kids and assign them all to me.

I never had an issue with it.  My preference is for my parents to enjoy every penny of their resources in their retirement.

In response to my brother's position mom decided to leave the estate distribution as it always has been. Split equally between my brother and I.  They did make a change though.  In the event of the demise of either my brother or I before the demise of our parents, our half goes to hour spouse and heirs.  And, rather than leaving a fixed amount to my SS (he was the only GK specifically named in the Will) he was removed from their Will entirely since  he is my sole heir and will inherit my half of my parent's estate upon my demise.  When my bride and I married their lawyer advised them to name SS to a specific amount of inheritance to minimize the risk of the SpermClan going after part of their estate on SS's behalf.

Since I adopted him at his request when he was 22, he gets squat just like my brother's 3.  They of course will split my brother's half plus the estate of my brother and my SIL.  

The Will my wife and I established leaves everything to the surviving spouse.  In the event of our co-demise or the demise of whichever of us goes last it all goes into trust for our son (my SS) until he either turns 40 or completes a Bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited college or university.  Our way of parenting from beyond the grave.  If he has completed his degree (or is 40) by the time we are both gone, he gets it all directly.

This was established at the advice of our attorney to prevent the SpermClan from getting a penny if we passed while SS was a minor.  The trust is to be administered by my brother.

If either of my parents were widowed and remarried, I would be very stern in protecting the intention of my parents regarding their estate.  Any new spouse would be hard pressed to get anything beyond assets accrued after their marriage to my surviving parent.  My brother and I would be very firm on that position and combined we have far more than enough resources to enforce our position in as long a court battle as necessary to make it happen.

If the next spouse or our surviving parent is reasonable, then we will be reasonable and ensure that they are cared for. If they are not reasonable... then it would be game on and the scorched earth battle would commence.