This short article tells you how to deal with the probate court and the possible forgery of your parents' will. The death of a parent is a difficult time. The prospect of going to court against your siblings makes the entire event even worse.
You're probably here because you've just lost one of your parents, and now you're handling the testament.
The will is probably a mix of emotions. You might feel relieved that you're finally in charge of your parent's possessions, including their retirement accounts. But you might also feel hurt, angry, and sad that your parent has passed and the other children are fighting over money.
There are a few things that you can do to help you make decisions about the will:
Talk About the Choice with other Family Members
Hire a forensic document examiner to determine the authenticity.
Contact an estate lawyer to help you understand your legal rights and obligations.
This article is for you if the signature on the Testament or those Trust documents doesn't look authentic.
My name is Bart Baggett, and I founded Handwriting Experts Inc. over 25 years ago to help people like you. We specialize in probate cases involving signatures, trusts, deeds, and wills.
Often, it's the case when someone has passed away, and a probate court judge will handle the real estate. This can happen if they decide in advance that they want their house, cars, and jewelry to go to their kids. The judge will determine what happens with other assets of theirs, such as stocks or bonds too. Beware of some idiot step-child trying to steal it all for himself through forgery.
A forgery will not be accepted as a valid will. But how do you prove it was forged? A certified handwriting expert will compare the signature to the person's other handwriting samples to determine whether the autographs are authentic.
Handwriting Also Providing Legal Document
A will is a legal document that states how the testator's property will be distributed after death. A will can also say who the estate executor is, and there are different rules in different states. Do you know the difference between a holographic will and a non-holographic will? Most conditions agree a holographic will must be entirely written in the person's handwriting and signed to be valid. A typewriter-typed will, by definition, is not holographic.
Forgery is fraudulently signing a signature simulating the person's actual signature. If proven, the will could be thrown out by the probate judge.
Forgery of The last will is a crime in which someone alters or falsifies a choice to make it appear as if it was written by someone else. This can happen when an individual wants to inherit from the person who wrote the will or wants to inherit from someone else's estate.
It's our burden and responsibility to figure out our parents' estate and handle all the details. And unfortunately, it's very, very common for brothers, sisters, uncles, and even caregivers to forge wills and try to take everything-- and I mean everything!
So, you're not alone in this situation. And I know it isn't apparent. I'll walk you through how we work with probate cases and how a court-qualified handwriting expert can help you during the process.
At Handwriting Experts Inc., we are professional forensic document examiners. We require authenticated handwriting samples and signatures of the decedent (your mom or your dad who has passed away… and we determine if the will for this person has been forged.
Here are the steps we follow to determine if a will has been forged.
Is there a document with the original, or "wet", signature?
Often, in a probate case, an original wet signature (pen and ink original) is sitting at the courthouse under lock and key. But that's not always true.
If it's possible to get access to that will, one of our experts will personally go to the courthouse with a microscope and a camera to inspect it professionally. At the courthouse, a forensic examiner will photograph the document in question. After the inspection, they will analyze to confirm whether a human being's handwriting wrote and signed the will. Sometimes color photocopies can look like wet ink, but it is not the same under a microscope.
See the graphic below. One photograph is a color printout, the other is a blue ballpoint pen written by a human hand.
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