How do I gain legal ownership of property from deceased grandmother without a Will although it was verbally agreed and can be attested by witnesses?
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How do I gain legal ownership of property from deceased grandmother without a Will although it was verbally agreed and can be attested by witnesses?
I have a grandmother who passed away about 2 years ago who wasn’t my biological grandmother but my step dads mother but we treated eachother as if we were blood related. She told me time and time again through my teenage years up until she passed that she was going to leave her home to me when she passed. It was not written but verbal and her children my step dad and his sisters and brothers can attest to this being said. Would that be enough to legally gain ownership of the property she left? And also her brother was left as power of attorney. Does that give him legal ownership over the property? and if so how would I be able to gain ownership if I asked him to have it signed over to me?
Asked on November 9, 2017 under Estate Planning, Georgia
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 7 years ago | Contributor
No, her oral wishes or instructions ("oral," not "verbal," is the correct term for unwritten instructions or statements) have no legal effect whatsoever, regardless of how many people can attest to them. Only a properly signed and witnessed written will controls what happens to property after someone dies. If she had a written will, the property will go to whomever the will instructs it should; without a will, if there was no surviving spouse when she passed away, it will go to her children. (A power of attorney has no power after someone dies; the POA ends when the person creating it passes away, so the brother has no power from the POA.)
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