My Grand Parents Had Savings, Stocks And A House They Paid Cash For 30 Yrs Ago. It's Valued At Over A Half Million Dollars. When They Married My Grandma Had A 6 Yr Old Son (my Dad) From A Previous Marriage. Their Marriage Produced 2 Girls. Dad Spent His Childhood Shuffled Between His Natural Parents. His Mom And Her New Family. Summers With Dad And His Wife And Son. Feeling Like He Didn't Belong To Either One. I Know Grandma Felt Bad About That. They Had A Special Bond, An Understanding Of Each Other..
My Parents Split Up Early On. Mom Supported Us From Then On.
He Wasn't Much Of A Father Or Husband And The Rest Of The Family, Except Grandma, Didn't Think He Was Much A Son.
We Lived Near My Grandparents, Mom Was Like Their Daughter. She Never Asked For Help. Us Kids Never Asked Them For Money. We Were Happy With B-days And Xmas Gifts. Our Family Was Very Close.
Grandma Got Breast Cancer. My Eldest Aunt Took Care Of Her The Last Yrs. They Spoke Many Times Of How Her And Grandpa Wanted Everything To Be Divided Equally Between Their 3 Children. With One Clause, My Mom Recieve 50% Of Dad's. To Make Up For The Years Of Non Support.
I Over Heard These Talks, My Mom And Aunt Discussing It. Mom Didn't Want It, It Would Go To Us 3 Kids. My Other Aunt Has 2 Kids.
The Grandchildren Had All Been Provided For. This Was My Grandparents Will At The Time Of My Grandma's Death. My Dad Was The Only One Who Didn't Know What Was In Their Will.
I Don't Know If It Was Legally Documented Or Recorded Yet.
At Her Memorial Dad Asked Me "what's Grandma's Will Say". I Told Him I Didn't Know, He'd Have To Wait Until Grandpa Died.
Another 10 Or More Years Went By And My Dad' The Same As He Always Was. No One Knowing Where He Was Most The Time, Very Rarely Calling Anyone Unless He Wanted Something. This Always Angered My Aunts And Grandpa When Grandma Was Alive Becuase It Hurt Her. The Rest Of Us Were Still All Very Close. My Eldest Aiunt And Her Husband Moved In With Grandpa When He Was About 70- 75 To Help Out. After Awile He Was Doing Better So They Moved Out.
Then My Aunt Died Unexpectedly. My Brother Called My Father But He Didn't Show Up. My Aunt Had Been Made Joint Tenant But Now It Reverted Back To Grandpa. Naturally The Divisioin Of The Estate Went To The Two Remaining Siblings. My Grandmothers Son From A Previous Marriage And His Younger Half Sister, Daughter Of The Surviving Spouse.
My Other Aunt Had Long Been Divorced And Had Been Living With Another Man For The Past 5 Years. They Moved In To Look After Grandpa Who Was About 80 By Then.
During That Time My Aunts Boyfriend Was Arrested For For Selling Drugs. My Aunt Knew. Because It Was Happening From Grandpa's House They Were Threatened With Confiiscation Of The House.
Grandpa Didn't Know What The Arrest Was About. The People In Charge Of The Arrest Learnedthere Was No Connection Between Him And His House And Them. Her Boyfriend Took Complete Responsibility So She Wasn't Charged.
He Was Facing A Very Long Time In Prison And My Aunt "borrowed" Thousands Of Dollars From Grandpa For His Defense. My Grandfather Never Knew The True Nature Of The Charges. He Believed It Was Because Of Internet Fraud Or Something. He Wound Up Spending Three Years In Folsom Prison.
While There My Aunt Spent More On Visits And Support Etc. After It Was Over It Cost Grandpa Around $20,000.00 .
He Came Out A Completely Changed Man, All That Was Behind Him For Good. Grandpa Had His First Stroke Around That Time. The Boyfriend Found A Good Job And Took Care Of Both Of Them. My Aunt Couldn't Work And Was On Permanent Disability. He Was Wonderful With Grandpa. Helped Him Bathe, Kept Him From Getting Depressed. Worked With Him Through Physical Therapy Etc. They Were Like Father And Son. He Knew What Was Done For Him And He Was More Than Happy To Return The Favor With Interest. Plus He Really Loved My Aunt.
They Lived There For The Next Three Years And That Was Their Home As Much As Grandpa's.
We All Knew That When Grandpa Died Dad Would Want To Sell Right Away To Get His Half. Mom And Us Kids Weren't Concerned How Long My Aunt Lived There.
My Mom And Brother And Sister All Lived In Mich. Now.
Sis Was Coming To Ca. To Visit And We Planned To Visit Grandpa. He Had Another Stroke Before We Got There And Was In The Hospital The Whole Time. He Knew Who I Was, But Didn't Seem To Know Who My Sister Was.
He Kept Asking To See My Mom, He Thought She Still Lived Close Even Tho She Had Been A Thousand Miles Away Almost 6 Yrs. My Sister And I Left The Next Day, She Was Flying Home. A Couple Days Later Mom, Though She Couldn't Afford It, Or Take Time Off Work, Flew To See Grandpa One Last Time. She Only Stayed Two Days, Her Regular Days Off.
He Kept Asking For Her And Was Upset That She Wasn't There. It Wasn't Good For Him To Be So Agitated. He Still Thought She Was Just A Few Miles Away. At This Point There Was No Reason To Think He Wouldn't Be Going Home Soon, They Even Moved Him From The Hospital To A Convalescent Home.
But There Was A Staph Scare So A Couple Days Later He Was Back To The Hospital. Because Of Paralyasis He Couldn't Swallow So He Was Fed Thru A Tube. He Kept Begging For Something To Drink, A Night Duty Nurse Or Attendant That Didn't Look At The Chart Gave Him A Piece Of Ice Or Tiny Bit Of Water To Wet His Mouth And In The Night He Choked And Died. I Don't Know Why My Aunt Didn't Have That Investigated. I Guess Because He Was Very Old And His Qualiity Of Life Before This Stroke Was Not Good, He Had Not Been Happy.
I Went To My Aunts For The Memorial. That's When She Told Me That Grandpa Had Changed The Will. She Said He Was Angry That Dad Never Called Or Came To Visit Him.
So Dad's 50%, That He Would Get 25% Of, Reverted To $1.00.
There Is The Law Of Community Property. Does That Mean Mom Gets 50 Cents? My Aunt Said "well You Don't Know What Grandpa Left Your Mom." I Thought It Was Wrong That They Should Disregaurd Grandma's Wishes Concerning My Father.
He Hadn't Changed After She Died, It Was No Surprise That He Wasn't Around. To Me, Not Honoring Her Wishes And Disrespecting Her Feelings About Dad Was Like They Invalidated Her Life.
I Had No Reason To Think That Cutting Dad Out Would Affect What Grandma And Grandpa Wanted Their Grandchildren To Have. Maybe Grandpa Didn't Even Realize What Changing Dad's Meant To The Rest Of It.
I Think They Did It So My Aunt Wouldn't Be Forced To Sell. Grandpa Wanted Everything To Stay There For The Family Forever If It Could.
No One Knew Where Dad Was, No One Wanted To Tell Him That Out Of An Approx $750-800,000.00 That He Would Get A Dollar.
He Would Want To Invest In Some Scheme And We Would Inherit From That, But Probably That Would Not Happen. Grandma Put That Clause In About Mom Because She Was Like Another Daughter.
I Don't Think The Will Was Filed In It's Final Draft Until Just Before His Death So Grandmother's Wishes Were'nt Included.
I Read The Will That Night It Said That My Aunt Would Have Estate For Life, Then The House Would Go To Her Son And After Him, My Younger Brother. There Was Nothing About Division In Case Of Of A Sale.
It Didn't Say Anything About Any Money Being Distributed To Any One. There Was $50,000.00 In Savings Plus Some T-bills And Small Investments.
My Grandfather Also Has An Extensive , Very Valuable Collection Of Autographed Photos And Records From All The Big Bands Of The 30's And 40's.
I Asked My Aunt What About What Grandma's Will Says? She Said "do You Want To Read It?". I Said No I've Been Told Several Times By Mom, Grandma, Aunt Angela What She Wanted .
While I Was There I Was Looking Thru Old Pictures And I Found A Hand Written Note By Grandma That Said How Everything Be Divided To Her Three Children And So On. My Aunt Took It Away From Me, I Don't Know What She Did With It.
My Grandmother Had Started Keeping A Daily Journal When She Found Out About The Cancer So I Know Somewhere She Has Written Her Wishes.
I Went Home Feeling Bad That Even If They Didn't Like, Or Understand, They Would At Least Respect The Bond Between Grandma And Dad.
Unfortunately My Aunt Hadn't Changed Much While Her Boyfriend Was Gone. Knowing That His Freedom Could Be At Risk And Her Unwillingness To Change Forced Him To Leave Soon After Grandpa's Death.
My Aunt Has This Attitude That " It Was Wrong How The Will Was Changed But What Can I Do?" "that's What He Wanted, It's In Writing"
A Few Months Later My Mom, My Sister And Her Three Children, My Brother And Myself Each Recieved Checks For $1000.00 Apiece. That Is What My Aunt Says Grandpa Had Put In His Will. I Think That Is Not What He Intended In The Long Run. , He's A Traditional Spanish Man, The Men Take Care Of Their Families. He Had No Sons (after Cutting His Step-son Out) So His Two Grand Sons, My Younger Cousin, Who's His Blood, Is Listed First When My Aunt Dies Or Can't Keep The House, Then My Brother.
I Think He Took For Granted That Either One Of Them Would Distribute It Fairly.
My Father Never Knew What Happened, He Died Two Years Ago. I Know He Would Have Fought My Aunt If He Had To For Grandma's Half Of The Community Property. He Was The Oldest Child , And His Children Are The First Born Grand Children. My Aunt Still Lives There And From What I Understand That When She Dies She's Leaving Everything To Her Children And Grandchildren. She Avoids Talking About Selling It Or Leasing It. But She's Alone And Can Barely Take Care Of Herself Let Alone The House. Her Kids Walk All Over Her, My Cousin "forced Her" To Take A $185,000 Loan Against The House For An Investment Opprotunity He Had. It Was A Fraud And He Lost It All. We Don't Know If He's Been Making The Payments Like He Was Supposed To. She Can't.
The Place Is Falling Apart, Needs A Roof, Tore Up Carpet And Found Mold. If She Gets A Loan Or Earns Money From The House She Says Her $700.00 A Month Disability Checks Will Be In Jeporady.
Are There Any Community Property Rights Of A Spouse Who Dies First? Can Their Wishes Just Be Tossed Aside? Did My Father Have Any Claim, Do His Children? I Know That Both My Grandparents Would Want All Of Their Grandchildren To Benefit. I Know That They Would Not Have Wanted Her To Lose The House. And The Condition Of It, Grandpa Was A Carpenter He Remodeled Every House They Ever Owned. He'd Be Turning Over In His Grave If He Saw It.
My Mom Is In Her 70's And Is Still Working. My Sister Needs Treatment For Emotional And Pyscological Problems But Has No Insurance. I 'm Not Doing Well, My Brother Is The Only One Doing Okay. My Cousins Are Expectiing To Inherit A Couple Million Dollars Apiece From Their Grandparents On Their Fathers Side. They Also Get Our Grandparents? It Doesn't Seem Right, It Feels Like Grandma And All She Wanted For Us Never Exisisted. It's Ironic To Because My Grandmother Was The Most Loved And Revered Woman In The Whole Family.
My Parents Split Up Early On. Mom Supported Us From Then On.
He Wasn't Much Of A Father Or Husband And The Rest Of The Family, Except Grandma, Didn't Think He Was Much A Son.
We Lived Near My Grandparents, Mom Was Like Their Daughter. She Never Asked For Help. Us Kids Never Asked Them For Money. We Were Happy With B-days And Xmas Gifts. Our Family Was Very Close.
Grandma Got Breast Cancer. My Eldest Aunt Took Care Of Her The Last Yrs. They Spoke Many Times Of How Her And Grandpa Wanted Everything To Be Divided Equally Between Their 3 Children. With One Clause, My Mom Recieve 50% Of Dad's. To Make Up For The Years Of Non Support.
I Over Heard These Talks, My Mom And Aunt Discussing It. Mom Didn't Want It, It Would Go To Us 3 Kids. My Other Aunt Has 2 Kids.
The Grandchildren Had All Been Provided For. This Was My Grandparents Will At The Time Of My Grandma's Death. My Dad Was The Only One Who Didn't Know What Was In Their Will.
I Don't Know If It Was Legally Documented Or Recorded Yet.
At Her Memorial Dad Asked Me "what's Grandma's Will Say". I Told Him I Didn't Know, He'd Have To Wait Until Grandpa Died.
Another 10 Or More Years Went By And My Dad' The Same As He Always Was. No One Knowing Where He Was Most The Time, Very Rarely Calling Anyone Unless He Wanted Something. This Always Angered My Aunts And Grandpa When Grandma Was Alive Becuase It Hurt Her. The Rest Of Us Were Still All Very Close. My Eldest Aiunt And Her Husband Moved In With Grandpa When He Was About 70- 75 To Help Out. After Awile He Was Doing Better So They Moved Out.
Then My Aunt Died Unexpectedly. My Brother Called My Father But He Didn't Show Up. My Aunt Had Been Made Joint Tenant But Now It Reverted Back To Grandpa. Naturally The Divisioin Of The Estate Went To The Two Remaining Siblings. My Grandmothers Son From A Previous Marriage And His Younger Half Sister, Daughter Of The Surviving Spouse.
My Other Aunt Had Long Been Divorced And Had Been Living With Another Man For The Past 5 Years. They Moved In To Look After Grandpa Who Was About 80 By Then.
During That Time My Aunts Boyfriend Was Arrested For For Selling Drugs. My Aunt Knew. Because It Was Happening From Grandpa's House They Were Threatened With Confiiscation Of The House.
Grandpa Didn't Know What The Arrest Was About. The People In Charge Of The Arrest Learnedthere Was No Connection Between Him And His House And Them. Her Boyfriend Took Complete Responsibility So She Wasn't Charged.
He Was Facing A Very Long Time In Prison And My Aunt "borrowed" Thousands Of Dollars From Grandpa For His Defense. My Grandfather Never Knew The True Nature Of The Charges. He Believed It Was Because Of Internet Fraud Or Something. He Wound Up Spending Three Years In Folsom Prison.
While There My Aunt Spent More On Visits And Support Etc. After It Was Over It Cost Grandpa Around $20,000.00 .
He Came Out A Completely Changed Man, All That Was Behind Him For Good. Grandpa Had His First Stroke Around That Time. The Boyfriend Found A Good Job And Took Care Of Both Of Them. My Aunt Couldn't Work And Was On Permanent Disability. He Was Wonderful With Grandpa. Helped Him Bathe, Kept Him From Getting Depressed. Worked With Him Through Physical Therapy Etc. They Were Like Father And Son. He Knew What Was Done For Him And He Was More Than Happy To Return The Favor With Interest. Plus He Really Loved My Aunt.
They Lived There For The Next Three Years And That Was Their Home As Much As Grandpa's.
We All Knew That When Grandpa Died Dad Would Want To Sell Right Away To Get His Half. Mom And Us Kids Weren't Concerned How Long My Aunt Lived There.
My Mom And Brother And Sister All Lived In Mich. Now.
Sis Was Coming To Ca. To Visit And We Planned To Visit Grandpa. He Had Another Stroke Before We Got There And Was In The Hospital The Whole Time. He Knew Who I Was, But Didn't Seem To Know Who My Sister Was.
He Kept Asking To See My Mom, He Thought She Still Lived Close Even Tho She Had Been A Thousand Miles Away Almost 6 Yrs. My Sister And I Left The Next Day, She Was Flying Home. A Couple Days Later Mom, Though She Couldn't Afford It, Or Take Time Off Work, Flew To See Grandpa One Last Time. She Only Stayed Two Days, Her Regular Days Off.
He Kept Asking For Her And Was Upset That She Wasn't There. It Wasn't Good For Him To Be So Agitated. He Still Thought She Was Just A Few Miles Away. At This Point There Was No Reason To Think He Wouldn't Be Going Home Soon, They Even Moved Him From The Hospital To A Convalescent Home.
But There Was A Staph Scare So A Couple Days Later He Was Back To The Hospital. Because Of Paralyasis He Couldn't Swallow So He Was Fed Thru A Tube. He Kept Begging For Something To Drink, A Night Duty Nurse Or Attendant That Didn't Look At The Chart Gave Him A Piece Of Ice Or Tiny Bit Of Water To Wet His Mouth And In The Night He Choked And Died. I Don't Know Why My Aunt Didn't Have That Investigated. I Guess Because He Was Very Old And His Qualiity Of Life Before This Stroke Was Not Good, He Had Not Been Happy.
I Went To My Aunts For The Memorial. That's When She Told Me That Grandpa Had Changed The Will. She Said He Was Angry That Dad Never Called Or Came To Visit Him.
So Dad's 50%, That He Would Get 25% Of, Reverted To $1.00.
There Is The Law Of Community Property. Does That Mean Mom Gets 50 Cents? My Aunt Said "well You Don't Know What Grandpa Left Your Mom." I Thought It Was Wrong That They Should Disregaurd Grandma's Wishes Concerning My Father.
He Hadn't Changed After She Died, It Was No Surprise That He Wasn't Around. To Me, Not Honoring Her Wishes And Disrespecting Her Feelings About Dad Was Like They Invalidated Her Life.
I Had No Reason To Think That Cutting Dad Out Would Affect What Grandma And Grandpa Wanted Their Grandchildren To Have. Maybe Grandpa Didn't Even Realize What Changing Dad's Meant To The Rest Of It.
I Think They Did It So My Aunt Wouldn't Be Forced To Sell. Grandpa Wanted Everything To Stay There For The Family Forever If It Could.
No One Knew Where Dad Was, No One Wanted To Tell Him That Out Of An Approx $750-800,000.00 That He Would Get A Dollar.
He Would Want To Invest In Some Scheme And We Would Inherit From That, But Probably That Would Not Happen. Grandma Put That Clause In About Mom Because She Was Like Another Daughter.
I Don't Think The Will Was Filed In It's Final Draft Until Just Before His Death So Grandmother's Wishes Were'nt Included.
I Read The Will That Night It Said That My Aunt Would Have Estate For Life, Then The House Would Go To Her Son And After Him, My Younger Brother. There Was Nothing About Division In Case Of Of A Sale.
It Didn't Say Anything About Any Money Being Distributed To Any One. There Was $50,000.00 In Savings Plus Some T-bills And Small Investments.
My Grandfather Also Has An Extensive , Very Valuable Collection Of Autographed Photos And Records From All The Big Bands Of The 30's And 40's.
I Asked My Aunt What About What Grandma's Will Says? She Said "do You Want To Read It?". I Said No I've Been Told Several Times By Mom, Grandma, Aunt Angela What She Wanted .
While I Was There I Was Looking Thru Old Pictures And I Found A Hand Written Note By Grandma That Said How Everything Be Divided To Her Three Children And So On. My Aunt Took It Away From Me, I Don't Know What She Did With It.
My Grandmother Had Started Keeping A Daily Journal When She Found Out About The Cancer So I Know Somewhere She Has Written Her Wishes.
I Went Home Feeling Bad That Even If They Didn't Like, Or Understand, They Would At Least Respect The Bond Between Grandma And Dad.
Unfortunately My Aunt Hadn't Changed Much While Her Boyfriend Was Gone. Knowing That His Freedom Could Be At Risk And Her Unwillingness To Change Forced Him To Leave Soon After Grandpa's Death.
My Aunt Has This Attitude That " It Was Wrong How The Will Was Changed But What Can I Do?" "that's What He Wanted, It's In Writing"
A Few Months Later My Mom, My Sister And Her Three Children, My Brother And Myself Each Recieved Checks For $1000.00 Apiece. That Is What My Aunt Says Grandpa Had Put In His Will. I Think That Is Not What He Intended In The Long Run. , He's A Traditional Spanish Man, The Men Take Care Of Their Families. He Had No Sons (after Cutting His Step-son Out) So His Two Grand Sons, My Younger Cousin, Who's His Blood, Is Listed First When My Aunt Dies Or Can't Keep The House, Then My Brother.
I Think He Took For Granted That Either One Of Them Would Distribute It Fairly.
My Father Never Knew What Happened, He Died Two Years Ago. I Know He Would Have Fought My Aunt If He Had To For Grandma's Half Of The Community Property. He Was The Oldest Child , And His Children Are The First Born Grand Children. My Aunt Still Lives There And From What I Understand That When She Dies She's Leaving Everything To Her Children And Grandchildren. She Avoids Talking About Selling It Or Leasing It. But She's Alone And Can Barely Take Care Of Herself Let Alone The House. Her Kids Walk All Over Her, My Cousin "forced Her" To Take A $185,000 Loan Against The House For An Investment Opprotunity He Had. It Was A Fraud And He Lost It All. We Don't Know If He's Been Making The Payments Like He Was Supposed To. She Can't.
The Place Is Falling Apart, Needs A Roof, Tore Up Carpet And Found Mold. If She Gets A Loan Or Earns Money From The House She Says Her $700.00 A Month Disability Checks Will Be In Jeporady.
Are There Any Community Property Rights Of A Spouse Who Dies First? Can Their Wishes Just Be Tossed Aside? Did My Father Have Any Claim, Do His Children? I Know That Both My Grandparents Would Want All Of Their Grandchildren To Benefit. I Know That They Would Not Have Wanted Her To Lose The House. And The Condition Of It, Grandpa Was A Carpenter He Remodeled Every House They Ever Owned. He'd Be Turning Over In His Grave If He Saw It.
My Mom Is In Her 70's And Is Still Working. My Sister Needs Treatment For Emotional And Pyscological Problems But Has No Insurance. I 'm Not Doing Well, My Brother Is The Only One Doing Okay. My Cousins Are Expectiing To Inherit A Couple Million Dollars Apiece From Their Grandparents On Their Fathers Side. They Also Get Our Grandparents? It Doesn't Seem Right, It Feels Like Grandma And All She Wanted For Us Never Exisisted. It's Ironic To Because My Grandmother Was The Most Loved And Revered Woman In The Whole Family.
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