Sibling Took Parent's Will Without Permission

[SorrowsChild]

My jurisdiction is: Texas

Hello, I am happy to have found this forum and appreciate any help you might be able to give.

My father has gone from very lucid to total dementia in only two months; he is dying with only weeks to live and my mother also has dementia and her health is also going downhill rapidly (they are both in their late-80's).

My (trusted) sister is the executor of our parents' will, but she has never seen it and any attempts in the past to discuss it with our parents have been met with accusations of "being after their money." None of us know how many assets our father has and where they are - he would not talk about it to us. Now we found out that our mother knows nothing about their assets, either.

Brother and his wife have been pilfering heirlooms and other items from the house for years, and today I just found out that he took the original will and the copies home with him!

His wife is an accountant who works with estates, and truthfully none of us (other siblings) doubt that he is going to try to alter the will. A copy of the will is with our father's lawyer, and I do not put it past brother and SIL to arrange a robbery of the law office. (I'm not kidding.)

Please does someone know what we can do? I am going to look into it - but what if a copy was not filed with the County Clerk? If the original will is altered, is the attorney's copy used? How does that work? Will the will be completely thrown out? Please help, and thanks again for any information or guidance.

 

[SorrowsChild]

p.s. The reason I said that I don't doubt my brother and his wife would try to steal the attorney's copy (if it helps them) is because they have already tried to sell some of our father's land; he got together with a realtor who spoke with my father, my brother tried to pressure our father to sell. This when our father was in and out of reality. And the lawyer's office is a little building in a small town.

There's so much to write but I'm trying to focus:

1) How do we find out about our father's assets and if papers are missing,

2) What happens if the will is illegally altered?

Thanks in advance!

 

[dee_dub]

If the original will is altered, is the attorney's copy used?

Assuming it has not been stolen, and can be proven to be a true copy of the original will, yes.

How does that work?

Whoever is named executor by whatever instrument is purported to be the last valid will is required to probate the will. If your brother attempts to probate a false will, you prove to the court that it was altered, and that the lawyer's copy is a true copy of the original.

1) How do we find out about our father's assets and if papers are missing,

That is a very difficult question. If you don't know what's there in the first place, how do you expect to know what's missing?

2) What happens if the will is illegally altered?

Nothing in particular. That document is junk. But if someone attempts to probate a will that has been altered, see above.