will I inherit my fathers part of an estate he jointly owned?

The time to address this question was 10 years ago, when your father died. You MAY have some interest in your father's assets, although it's unlikely. Note: a Will does not have to be notarized to be valid; it only has to meet state law requirements. In GA, that means the person making the Will has to sign it in front of two witnesses and let them know it is his Will. The witnesses they also both have to sign the Will. A notary is only required for there to be a "self-proving affidavit." That only makes it easier to probate the Will. If your father had a Will, then you have to see what it said. If everything went to his wife outright, it was all hers after that. you wouldn't have any interest in his property. You also have to look at any jointly-owned assets to see how they were owned. Property owned as joint tenants passes automatically to the surviving owner when one owner dies. Only property owned as tenants in common would even have become part of your father's estate and subject to his Will or to state intestacy rules. If he owned assets as joint tenants with his wife, those became hers automatically at his death, and you have no interest in the assets. You also then have to look at whether your father's wife made a year's support claim after his death and was awarded any property under it: if so, that is her property and again, you have no interest in that property. Finally, you have to see whether he had any assets subject to a beneficiary designation of some kind: if his wife was the beneficiary, then she received those assets and they became hers; you would have no interest in those. If your father did NOT have a Will, then he was intestate at his death. Under GA law, the assets in an intestate person's probate estate (which again does not always include all of that person's assets, because assets can pass by joint tenancy or beneficiary designation) are divided between the person's heirs. In GA, a married person's heirs include his spouse, if the spouse survives, and the person's children (and the descendants of any children who died before him). If there was only you and his wife, you would have each received 1/2 of your father's estate. The wife could have taken a larger share through a year's support claim. If she didn't, if your father died intestate, and if he had any assets that became part of his probate estate, you MIGHT actually own a share of at least some of the assets left at his wife's death (particularly real estate). But you will have an uphill battle determining all that now. If you want to try, find a very good estate attorney; preferably one with litigation experience. You aren't your stepmother's heir (unless she legally adopted you), and so you have no right to her probate estate unless her Will gives you an interest in the estate. You would only be able to claim any interest you might rightfully have in your father's original portion of assets he owned at his death. The statute of limitations may also be a problem.