How do wills work?

[mulierrex]

Realistically, what goes on? Is it like in movies where they sit in a dark office and some employee reads off their possessions (doubt it)? The specific situation here is two parents who have died and wrote wills leaving everything to their only heir (their daughter). Would there be two wills? Would it be legal for them to share a will? I know basically nothing here

 

[skip.knox]

I presume you are talking modern law practice. The practice of law changes with both era and culture, so if that's a factor, do tell.

If modern, there are better voices around, so I hope they will chime in. Most likely it would be one will with two signatories. Part of the provisions would be what would happen if the one predeceased the other, and if both died together. Doing that as separate wills would be possible, though a bit more complicated. The most likely scenario there would be if each parent had their own wealth. For example, if he had inherited landed wealth whereas she had built a business empire. He might not have much legal claim to the business empire, and she might not have much claim to the land, so separate wills might be in order.

Beyond that, I yield to the learned counsel.

 

[CupofJoe]

Actually from recent experience I think things are very different in the UK.
Here you would have two Wills, one for each party. You might be able to have one Will but that would make it far more complicated, as the whole document would have to be full of If... Then... Else clauses.
After a declaration that you aren't mad and no-one is forcing you to make the Will, the first line of each Will would be something like "I leaves everything to X unless they are dead except..." [in slightly more professional language]
Then somewhere further down the page it would say "If X is dead, then here is how it goes..."
Unless there is a contest over the Will you may never know you were in the will until you got a letter from the executor [usually a solicitor/lawyer but it can be anyone] with the news you were included.
Yes, Wills should be noted and signed and witnessed and held in safety by someone impartial, but just about anything can be treated as a Will as long as it is clear what is meant to happen. In theory a hand written note saying "I want Z to have it all" is all that might be needed. I wouldn't recommend it though.
As for people meeting in a darken room and the solicitor/lawyer reading it out...
That looks great on TV as a dramatic device but as you are paying the solicitor/lawyer $00s an hour to read it to you, I guess it only happens when there is going to be contention and it is best to have all the parties there so no-one gets the news early.
And as I understand in UK law [a bit better than I did a year ago]; if both parent died [at the same time], the default [with or without Wills] is for everything to go to the nearest next of kin, down the family line. So their child/ren would be next. Failing that it starts going to the next nearest next of kin, parents [unlikely] and the sibling of the deceased [more likely] and then you are off to cousins and aunts and uncles etc.

 

[Russ]

Realistically, what goes on? Is it like in movies where they sit in a dark office and some employee reads off their possessions (doubt it)? The specific situation here is two parents who have died and wrote wills leaving everything to their only heir (their daughter). Would there be two wills? Would it be legal for them to share a will? I know basically nothing here

I can probably assist you if you tell me where and when the will is drafted.

 

[Ixidor]

Just to start off, I'm not a lawyer. That having been said, the rules regarding will probation vary by location (that goes for state to state in the US and country to country).

For example, in Texas you have 4 years from the date of death to execute the will. So what you can do is hire a lawyer and file for for Probation (or do it yourself). Where you file depends on the deceased person's living conditions. If they "lived" in one place in Texas, then you file in that county.* Then you have to wait 10 business days, so that the court can notify the public that a will has been filed for probation (just in case someone with a vested interest wants to contest or something). The court will then pick someone as the Executor of the will (the person who will give out the items/money, etc) via the Letters Testamentary and he/she has one month to publish a notice in the newspaper so that potential Creditors (people who are owed money by the deceased) can attempt to collect. Next, the Executor has 2 months to notify all the people named in the will as receiving things (Beneficiaries). This has to be done via certified mail (mail in which you are given a receipt that proves you tried to contact them). Within 90 days, the Executor must file a written statement sworn before the court that all the Beneficiaries were notified. General thing to keep in mind is that the bigger the estate, the longer all of this will take and that's without anyone contesting the will.

To make this simple:

1. File the appropriate papers with the probate court
2. There will be a court hearing that will address two things: will must be proven valid, and there must be proof of death. If a will has a "Self-Proving Affadavit" it is presumed valid. If it does not, someone who witnessed the signing must come forward (might be another attorney or a paralegal or someone).
3. Within three months, the Executor must file the Inventory, Appraisement, and List of Claims with the court
4. Notice to Creditors
5. Payment of Claims
6. Sale of Estate Property (if necessary to pay debts, or if part of the estate may deteriorate in value soon)
7. Closing of the Estate - You file an Account for Final Settlement/Final Accounting and an Application for Partition and Distribution. When the court is satisfied everything has been met, they will issue a Decree of Partition and Distribution which is when all the beneficiaries (heirs) get whatever goes to them.

*Here's an example:

James lived in Louisiana. He had property located in Bexar and Atascosa Counties. He died while visiting relatives in Brazoria County. Therefore, whomever is filing to probate the will can do so in any of those counties in TX.

If you're wondering who can file to probate a will, that can be anyone with an interest in the will: a living spouse, a beneficiary, next of kin, someone owed money by the deceased. Worst comes to worst, you can have a complete stranger with good intentions do it.

It's possible someone may attempt to contest the will. Here are a couple grounds for it:

- The will does not meet the requirements of the law (for example, in Texas you cannot have an oral will)
- Undue influence was put upon the person writing the will (coersion, force, etc)
- Fraud (say misrepresenting yourself as the child of a deceased person in order to get their money).

You have 2 years after probation of a will to context it, or 2 years after you discover the fraud.

If I need to, I can list all the different ways a will can be administered (Independent, Small Estate, Muniment of Title, etc).

I can also list the 19 clauses typically found in a will.

Just fyi, don't call them "heirs". The word the legal profession uses is beneficiaries.

To answer some of your questions:

You don't necessarily need to do a movie-esque reading, but some people prefer it in a ceremonial way. Generally speaking, people don't video tape themselves reading a will because it can easily become grounds for contesting the will later.

Two married spouses could have a joint will, or two separate wills. The most likely scenario is that they'll go together to a lawyer and have two separate wills worked out. This likely to cause the least amount of problems. Sharing a will is legal though, so there's no actual issues if they want to do that.