my father passed away in febuary he had a will and it stated that each one of his kids get a thousand but last year he had a stroke now its not there

I'm sorry to hear of your father's passing.  There are legal and practical answers to this.  If the account was made joint prior to his death, it does not pass according to his Will.  The gifts in the will would have to be satisfied from other assets.  Its not unusual for spouses to own an account jointly.  You could challenge the change on the account in court but its a longshot to win plus it'll cost you more than $1,000 to litigate that.  Even then, it would put the money in the estate and the executor and creditors all get paid before any beneficiarires so there's no guarantee there'd be money left over to pay you.  You might simply ask your step mother if she's willing to "honor" his last wishes as expressed in the Will.