Oklahoma Recent Legal Answers from Lawyers

If your grandfather left land to you by will, you will be notified when the will probates.  If the will has not probated, you can go to the deeds office and see if he added your name or another to the deed.  If the land is still in your grandfather's name alone, it will have to probate to pass to another.  If he had no will you will not inherit at all.  Your father will.  You father could not sell of the land unless he owned it or had a power of attorney allowin ghim to do it in the case of your grandfather not being in his right mind or otherwise appointing your father to make a sale.   Good luck to you sir.... Read More

If the account is uner $50,000 go to the bank and file with them an affidavit--assuming he was not married.  The account will have to be in your father's name alone with no beneficiary.  If it is too large to use this technique or there are other assets in his name alone, hire a probate lawyer as soon as you can.  Good luck to you. ... Read More

Check at the courthouse deeds office to see if his home is in his name alone.  If it was not made payable on death with others or joint with rights of survivorship with others, thus your father owned it in his name alone, hire the best probate lawyer you can find and open a probate.  You will now have the law behind you and you will be able to recover the house and other things and throw the sister out, unless there is a will that leaves all this to her and disinherits you.  How much of the estate you will get to inherit will depend (if there is no will) on whether your father was married or had other children.  If you are an only child and your father was not married, it all belongs to you and you can be named administrator of the estate.  But there are many other facts to gather to give you certainty of your position.  Hire an attorney ASAP.... Read More

Your question pertains to custody arrangements. Are you still legally married? If there is no pending court orders regarding child custody than you are free to do as you please and what is in the best interest of the child. When and if your husband petition to court for visitation, he would have to come to your county to file for papers, which I highly doubt he will do such a thing. Not many parents want to go out of state for a custody battle. You should also consider divorce and seek custody legally of the child to avoid future problems or restrictions.  Above answer and comments to questions are for general purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or establishes an attorney-client relationship without a signed retainer. Please reach out to an attorney you are comfortable with working and discussing your case in more details.... Read More

You have 10 days or until January 5 to file notice of intent to appeal. That initiates the process. Ther are several other steps to complete the process. However the missing og the 10 day deadline is fatal to any appeal. Feel free to call with questions    Mack Martin 405-236-8888... Read More

What type of legal custody do you currently have or whoever has custody right now? An attorney needs to review the current custody paperwork. What you can do is file for custody/guardianship but work with an attorney since above summary was unclear and too many relatives involved. Since the child is with you and you have been providing for the child, you do have some rights over the Best interest of the child.  Above answer and comments to questions are for general purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or establishes an attorney-client relationship without a signed retainer. Please reach out to an attorney you are comfortable with working and discussing your case in more details.... Read More

So I do see a question there.  It is highly unusual for a judge to take under advisement whom the heirs at law are.  But I am not sure that that is the issue as you are not very specific on what your inquiry is.  Are you represented by an attorney?  What little you have said makes it very clear you need representation and that attorney can likely get he case moved forward or at least explain to you why it is not moving. Good luck to you sir. ... Read More

You can leave what you have in further trust for your daughter or her children, but this depends on the amount of your assets at the time of your death.  If the amount you will leave is $500,000 or more you can name a corporate fiduciary (ie a bank with trust powers).   However if the amount is less than this and you are unable to appoint persons willing to trustee, you could leave it to your grandchildren.  Your daughter or her husband would have to seek guardianship and report to the court on accountings of the funds but the funds are turned over to the children when they reach 18.   You need a lawyer to help you process your options.  Good luck to you.  ... Read More

It will be several thousand dollars if it is a "vanilla" probate as you have presented.  This would mean there is a will and it only controls real estate and nothing else.  That would be unusual, but possible.  There are several steps that include notifying all his heirs at law--usually his children whether they inherit anything or not.  Then publishing for creditors has to occur.  If there are any, that is additonal time and expense.  You dont say what county and this affects fees as well.  In some counties an attorney may have to wait for hours to have the case called.  Lawyers typically bill this by the hour.  Also this is affected by the use of paralegals whose lower hourly rate generally lowers the cost of the document preparation, compared with the attorney that does all of the work himself.  So the bottom line is how many hours will it take and that is driven by your situation.  Good luck to you.... Read More

that depends on a number of factors.  If this is the only asset in the estate it might be most efficient for your mother to leave a transfer on death deed to him.  However, that is a very limited deed and if he should pass before your mother it does not address a contingency plan.  If it is left to him in a will, it will mean that the estate has to go through probate court for your brother to recieve the house.  The gold standard is to leave it to him through a revocable trust.  This allows for contingent arrangements and avoids the whole court process.  Your mother of course needs other documents besides simply dealing with the deed.  She should see an estate planning attorney to review her whole situations.  Good luck to you.... Read More

I would advise you to discuss your matter with an estate planning attorney give that this is a second marriage with children. It is difficult to accomplish what you have stated because for all of those provisions to happen you both would need to pass away, which is not likely to happen typically. You would probably want to take care of the surviving spouse for their lifetime then on the second death transfer the house and money to the kids. If order to ensure that happens, you will need a trust and a pour over will. If you would like more information or have more questions regarding this, please contact my office.... Read More

Dear Ms. Bittick:   You need to go to the courthouse and finish the paperwork necessary to establish title in your name before nine months have passed.   Your father is a thief like any other. How you choose to deal with a family thief is up to you but it is rarely by litigation unless something of high intrinsic worth is stolen or unless you are interested in paying large attorneys' fees to make a point.   Unless you intend to report him to the District Attorney (who may say this is a family matter with which he will not intervene), I recommend you change the locks and get an alarm system.   Good luck.... Read More

The company is claiming that you breached a contract by failing to pay for shipping charges.  Each jurisdiction has a statute of limitations on a breach of contract claim, but as far as I know it is more than 2 years everywhere in the US.  I don't know what jurisdiction's law applies to your situation, but he Oklahoma statute of limitations for breach of a written contract is 5 years from breach.... Read More

Dear Anonymous:   I assume you probated the will.  If you did not, you need to do so.  No you cannot just sell the property.  The law in our state is not well laid out on what companion's obligations are versus yours.  If you cannot reach an accord, to court you must go.  You might consider mediation, in hope of getting an agreement ironed out.  But you cannot sell the property without the companion's participation. If you have not probate the will yet, you may be able to resolve your issues with the Judge at that time. Good luck to you.... Read More

The fact that you are an only child does not affect the answer.  What you need to know to answer the question is what name is on the title.  If the deed is in the name of your last parent to die and only in that parent's name, then yes, you will go through probate to do anything with the house.  You can sell it during probate but it is cheaper to wait until title is in your name alone.  If however your parents did estate plannign to avoid the probate process they will have titled the deed to a trust or transfer on death to you or perhaps joint with rights of survivorship with you, in which case you will not have to probate. Probate is a titling game.  If a decedent dies with title to real estate in the decedent's name alone with no further designations, then to probate court you must go.      ... Read More

I am assuming that you mean there is a specific bequest (gift to you) of 100 shares of stock.   Unless the gift included language  regarding spin offs, you are likely to only receive the stock as described. However, I am not aware of any law governing this issue and if you have any evidence of a different intent, you might prevail if you challenge it.   If you want to discuss your evidence, evidence needed or challenges to this distribution, I will be happy to explore the matter with you. I will put this ssame information in your repeat question in the wills and probate category. To your success, Gale Allison... Read More

I am assuming that you mean there is a specific bequest (gift to you) of 100 shares of stock.   Unless the gift included language  regarding spin offs, you are likely to only receive the stock as described. However, I am not aware of any law governing this issue and if you have any evidence of a different intent, you might prevail if you challenge it.   If you want to discuss your evidence, evidence needed or challenges to this distribution, I will be happy to explore the matter with you. I will put this ssame information in your repeat question in the estate litigation category. To your success, Gale Allison    ... Read More

There are a lot of legal things that some very intrepid people (willing to educate themselves with lengthy research) can do for themselves.  Drafting a will contest petition is not one of them.  It also sets in motion a lot of legal things that even lawyers who do not limit their practices to this kind of thing cannot do well.  Give it up.  Hire the best lawyer you can afford, but make sure the skill set is in estates and trusts AND litigation.  Just any litigator will also need an estate lawyer and just an estate lawyer will also need a litigator.   To your success!  Gale Allison... Read More

You may not necessarily remove a deceased sibling's name from the deed. It depends on the words used to give the deceased sibling his share.  Two examples: His share may need to be bought from his estate, or If the words "per stirpes" were used, his share may go on to his children, if he had any.   With regard to buying your parents out, it is a purchase like any other purchase of real estate.  The value of the life estate can likely be determined with the use of life estate tables.  The price will have to appeal to your parents. To your success, Gale Allison  ... Read More