My attorney is saying a will is not valid after 5 years?
Full Question:
My grandfather passed away almost 6 years ago. He had a will and it stated that all of the property goes to my mother and nothing goes to her brother who is in prison and will never get out. My mother is selling the property and the attorney that is handling the abstract is saying that the will is not valid after five years and that it has to go to probate and that could take up to five years. This is in the state of Arkansas. Is this true? This is holding up the sale of her property. Does a will have an expiration date?
07/26/2007 |
Category: Wills and Estates |
State: California |
#7510
Answer:
The following is an AR statute:
28-40-103. Time limit for probate and administration.
(a) No will shall be admitted to probate and no administration shall be granted unless application is made to the court for admission to probate within five (5) years from the death of the decedent, subject only to the exceptions stated in this section.
(b) This section shall not affect the availability of appropriate equitable relief against a person who has fraudulently concealed or participated in the concealment of a will.
(c)
(1) Insofar only as it relates to real property in Arkansas, or any interest in real property, the will of a nonresident which has been admitted to probate in another appropriate jurisdiction may be admitted to probate in this state without regard to the time limit imposed by this section.
(2) However, rights and interests in the real property which, after the death of the testator if it is assumed that he or she died intestate, have been acquired by purchase, as evidenced by one (1) or more appropriate instruments which have been properly recorded in the office of the recorder of the county in which the real property is situated and which would be valid and effective had the decedent died intestate, shall not be adversely affected by the probate of the will in this state after the expiration of the time limit imposed by subsection (a) of this section.
History. Acts 1949, No. 140, § 64; 1963, No. 166, § 1; A.S.A. 1947, § 62-2125.