QUESTION
Does the name on a Last Will and Testament, the signature on the will and the name on a birth certificate need to all match?
Asked on Mar 12th, 2016 on Wills and Probate - Georgia
More details to this question:
My dads will says will says one name Jeffrey Stephen Stanley and his birth certificate says Stephen Jeffrey Stanley. He never signed anything other than Jeffrey S. Stanley. His bank acct says Jeffrey S. Stanley. He signed all his contracts Jeffrey S. Stanley and all his kids birth certificates say Jeffrey Scott Stanley. I found out today that he was on his mothers bank acct and in 2011 he came in and done a legal name change on the acct to Stephen Jeffrey Stanley but never told us kids about this. He was 74 when he died and now his wife is producing a will that we have never seen before that was supposedly done in 2005 in the name of Jeffrey Stephen Stanley but his obiturary says Stephen Jeffrey Stanley. Us kids are really confused and dont know what is going on. This new will doesnt look like his hand writing, he didnt leave us the things he tokd us he would leave us and he left us a few things that each other was supposed to get just gave to the wrong kids with her getting all
1 ANSWER
4 Awards
If the person who the Will belongs to used more than one version of his name, then no, the name on the Will does not necessarily need to match the other documents. My advice in that kind of situation is to use the preferred version of the name with an "a/k/a" for every other version, but that's not necessarily required.
The part of your post that raises the red flag for me isn't the name thing. It's the fact that you say the new Will doesn't appear to have your father's handwriting on it and doesn't reflect what you thought were his wishes. If you really think that the Will your stepmother is producing is not your father's actual Will, then you may want to challenge it if she tries to have it admitted to probate. If you want to consider a challenge, then you need to find an experienced estate litigation attorney and talk to the attorney about the situation and your options. The name issue is not the one you should be worrying about.
Answered on Mar 15th, 2016 at 5:45 AM
This answer is being provided as general information and not as legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is created by this answer.