Perhaps this will bring you closer to your answer. In 1954 the
property was owned by a person or persons and ownership passed to
another person when your father died. Begin by examining the deed or
the "title" to see exactly who owned the property in 1954. Your father
alone or with his first wife? (Maybe you will be suprised) .Then when
he died, how did ownership of the land pass to another party? If held
jointly with his first wife consider the possibility that she then
gained ownership rather than the stepmother. But if the father alone
held the title and died, then ownership would pass either by a will
(which you say did not exist) or my intestate law at that time (which
means the state statutes kick in as a substitute for a will). So you
can examine intestate law in the state code from 1954 (use law books
in the local law library) to see if the law automatically gave title
to the new wife or to the children of the first marriage (which I
suppose you are hoping for). You can look up the word "intestate" and
"wills" in the state code books - it is pretty easy to do if you are
patient. This approach hopes to prove you have title, not the
stepmother. The recorder of deed at the county level will have the
deed and other information that will help you. Go to the original
documents. (Should you later hire a lawyer, you will have them on hand
and it will speed up you efforts). Also, the local courthouse will
have the original court jacket that will reveal how the property was
distributed back in 1954. Examine that. Make photocopies or use a
digital camera. Lastly, if you stepmother really held title and then
used a will to transfer title to her three children a lawyer would ask
whether that will can be challenged. The object of the game for you is
to prove that she intended for you to get the land and to produce
evidence of that. Perhaps another will exists, or there were other
promises made to you. The key is to show that the stepmother's real
intent was to have the property transfered to you. Having said all
that, you can see that there is legal work to be done and you probably
should take your documents and ideas to a lawyer who could express an
opinion that is grounded in the facts as he knows them and the state
law, which he should be familiar with. Get a lawyer or a firm that
handles wills and estates and take all your documents to him. The
lawyer will draw from you additional facts that will fit the law.
Keep in mind that answers you get here may be a bit "off" because it
is difficult to get additional info from you or to see the documents.
But any legwork you do will bring you closer to the answer. Beware of
any definitive answers here - use a local lawyer. Lastly, you may want
to restate you facts here calling the children A,B,C,D,E etc. and
specify who the parents are and state when the marriages occurred,
with dates, since your facts allow for several interpretations. |
