In CT, after a husband dies, can his wife disinherit his children from his will?
My stepfather made his will on December 2002..he won a lawsuit and received approximately 500,000..he has 4 children to whom he left a sum of 5,000 for each one on his will...also 5,000 dollars for his mother...like around 5 months ago he verbally told my mother in front of me that he wanted to take them all out of his will because he feels like they don't deserve anything from him because of the way they treat him...he never got to update his will because he's been in and out of the hospital and never got the opportunity to change it...he passed away today..and now my mom is worried because she wants to fulfill his last wishes bit has no idea what to do... Please help...
Expert Answer
Like all other states, Connecticut has strict requirements for how and when a legal will can be made and changed. Most must be in writing, witnessed by two impartial people"”and any changes or additions must also meet these requirements.
If you can step back from your situation "“ hard when we're in the middle of it"”you can easily see how claims of verbal changes could become an easy source of fraud by the unscrupulous.
So it is likely that the will's executor"”your mother, perhaps?"”must just administer the will as it is written.
It may be some solace to know that if the will names his relatives only to get the amounts specified, than they are not entitled to what remains of the large lawsuit proceeds.