More details to this question:
My ex husband made a will; he died in February-my daughter only has a copy and will was done by an LLC a friend of his; she says she had to send the original to the State of Calif and hasn't received it back - is this normal to send a will to the State - my daughter hasn't filed probate and my ex left outstanding bills along with a house payment etc - if she never finished the original will then is it true that the copy is not a true will. She won't even give my son a copy of the will she does have in hand.
1 ANSWER
It's hard to answer directly as you have a lot of directions you could go here. In general an original will is NOT required. A photo copy of a signed will can be filed for probate as a petition to admit a "lost will" to probate. Additionally, even documents that do not meet all the legal requirements of a will can be admitted to probate in some cases. As for the will itself there is no central state office, that I am aware of, where you would send a will to. Normally the original will is "lodged" in the probate court of the county of death. There are lots of unknowns here. I would hire a probate attorney. -John
Answered on Jun 02nd, 2015 at 10:02 AM