What can I do if the executor won't give me a copy of my grandfather's will?

YOU signed the Will? Why would YOU sign the Will? As a witness? If you witness a Will that makes you an heir, guess what? It's worthless!!

No, not as a witness!! It stated that I would receive his land as a beneficiary.

The probated Will should be located in the court file when it was opened for Probate. In many states that is a matter of public record.

Pinklady, if your Grandfather passed away 10 years ago, probate has long since been closed. If you were listed in the Will, the Probate Court would have your name/address and you would have been notified. Since you weren't notified, that tells me the Will had been changed before your Grandfather had passed. People can change their Wills as many times as they wish as long as they are of clear mind.

Chances are your Grandmother became owner of the land since she and your Grandfather were married. Maybe during the past 10 years she had made changes to her Will placing her son to receive certain items, and certain items for her daughter [your Mom]. Taking care of an elder is very hard work, time consuming and exhausting.

Either you are in the will or not. If you are a beneficiary, you have a right to a copy of the will

I take it that you saw the will ten years ago, but that Grampa died recently. Is that the case?

It doesn't matter what your mom or your uncle feel entitled to. What matters is what the will says. (Any outstanding bills will be paid before the remainder is distributed. It is possible no one will get the land!)

I understand why you want to see the will. I don't understand why you are being refused that. Has it been filed for probate yet? Then it should be a public document.

You need to hire an attorney. You may need to sue your uncle to get this sorted out.

First the will should have been probated when your grandfather passed.. The probate court should have a copy. Depending on what state you live in (also check with probate) you can not witness a will in which you are a beneficiary.. If your states laws say its ok for you to sign (and there are some states that allow it) then it shouldn't matter what your uncle says. Unfortunately he may have a good case since it has been 10 years. The courts may wonder why you waited 10 years to make claim to the property.

Anther problem you my run into is that the will was changed and If that is the case then you are our of luck. There isn't law that requires anyone to notify someone if they change their will. But you will never know unless you see the one that was suppose to be probated.

Good preplanning on your part is the key, you should have requested a copy of the will on the day it was signed, That is why, I as a senior, had an estate lawyer draw up my trust and wills. We update our trust and wills every two years. Our attorney keeps a copy of the trust and wills.
Five years ago we went through this with my mother's estate, she used the same estate planner and attorney. Everything went smoothly. We had to pay the attorney a small fee to probate the will.
Sounds like you are out of luck until the will is probated. What happened ten years ago could have changed. If the property was turned over to your grandmother she could have changed the will.

Someone had to be paying the property taxes all these 10 years since your grandfather passed. Look at the public records to see who the listed owner of that property actually is. Even if it is due to you, you would probably have to reimburse someone for 10 years or taxes on that parcel.

Sorry, this sounds false. The executor has no obligation to let you see anything he does not want you to see. However, since this happened ten years ago, the statute of limitations has run out, you are entitled to nothing, but you can view the probate documents about the Will in your local assessor's office (or wherever your county keeps these records). This will let you and your mother know what your grandfather's last wishes were. Your uncle has a point that he has been paying the property taxes (which would be sent to the lawful owner by the county), but to make sure the land was lawfully transferred to his name, check the public records. Fighting over property in families is never a good thing. Let it go...

Was the will probated? The uncle may not have done that. If the will has not been probated, and he has the only copy and claims it is lost, then the property would pass according to state law on inheritance.

You sound just like my spoilt niece who expected land from my mother when she died. I took care of my mother, I am her daughter. Grand-daughters and grandsons inherit their mother and dads property if they are lucky. It is rare for a grandchild to inherit the grandparents property unless it is some mega millions family. Stop being greedy, or if you want something for nothing, perhaps be nice to your uncle and do something for him. My niece wanted property and she never even visited her grandmother, nor did she help me when I took care of her for 3 years. She just thought since she was charming and cute that she deserved her share of stuff. Puleez.

You may not necessarily have to reimburse anyone for the taxes paid. We can only provide our opinions. Go the probate court, get a copy of the will, then seek the advice of an attorney who handles this sort of thing.

I would think that after all this time---you're kind of spitting in the wind. People OFTEN make promises of one kind or another to this or that child, grandchild, and then when the time comes, surprisingly, that is no longer the case.
While 10 years+ ago, your grandpa wanted you to inherit something is not really an issue now. You can probably find out about the land through land records or old tax documents, but I wouldn't get my hopes up.
I know my mother has promised various items to several people. She hasn't written it down and I know when she passes, there may be some hurt feelings. And I agree, grandkids usually inherit nothing, unless it's a very specified item. I got my grandmother's antique sewing machine---only because my cousins vulture around and took everything of "value" first. It's fine, in the end, I got the BEST thing, memories of this amazing woman and I was her namesake. Those are the things that matter.

Pinklady52, could you please clarify when your grandfather died?

btw: grandparents promise alot. children and grandchildren also spend to much time mooching off the grandparents. Go get a job, earn your property and no one signs a will unless they are made executor and the lawyer would have you do this. You were not asked to sign any will. I find your lieing offensive. Be honest, instead of sneaky and you might get further. Sorry but this post really annoys me. OH and the Uncle you say is acting all entitled, He spent years taking care of your grandfather!!! Do you have any idea how much work that is? What did you do for your grandfather?

Will it help to possibly open and estate so you could subpoena a copy of the will or any other records you need? I'm going through something right now over a life insurance policy mispayment. I'm in the process right now of having an estate opened with a little bit of help from an outside source who is willing to help me. I need to subpoena some records and I need something to subpoena from according to my lawyer and so this is why I suggested maybe seeing if opening an estate will help you with your case

After re-reading your post I realized you said something about your grandpa dying 10 years ago. 10 years is quite a long time and I don't know if the SOL is still open or if it's expired. If it's expired there may not be anything you can do, and as mentioned here you may have to move on and get a job and earn your own money and pay your own way. Usually cases only have a very limited SOL until that window closes for good. What you want to do now is check with a lawyer and you're most likely to hear the same thing, that it may very well be too late

everyone on the will has a right to the will! call the attorney!

She can go look up the Will at the Probate court. If she is in the WILL then she can do something, probably will cost her. I doubt she was mentioned in the Will. The executor of the estate would have to violate the law in order to do that and I doubt he was that stupid. This is a niece, so she is telling her Uncle and the world that he is lier and a crook. That is some respect. Had to deal with same thing from my niece. She was going to inherit the house and land after I died. Not anymore. She has shown me NO respect and she is selfish. But I do encourage this lady to check out the probate court. It would do her well, I do hope she learns something.

10 years of propery taxes on vacant land isn't going to be much...maybe a few thousand? If the land is worth much more then what the taxes were, you should certainly find out if it was left to you. Your brother can't claim a 20,000.00 piece of property is his because once a year he paid a few hundred in taxes...how is that fair?

I agree with others. Check local records where he died. The will should be there..the property had to have been handled in the probate proceedings. Good Luck.

Opps, sorry...make that "your uncle...not brother".

I came across this, thus if Grandfather died 10 years ago, there is nothing she can do now.

" A contest to a will must be filed within two years from the date the will is filed into probate. Probate is when the will has been posted and read into record and has survived any objections; at that point it is read into the record (probated) by a judge and is considered legally filed. Thus, after that date, any contests must be raised within the next two years." [source: freeadvice, state planning, will, contested time limit].

originalhirevs, perhaps Pinklady52 signed something ten years ago and she now remembers it as the will. A faulty memory is not the same as lying, and I don't know how you judge her to be sneaky from what she has said. You are entitled to your opinion that she shouldn't expect to inherit but I wish you would refrain from personal attacks. That is not how these forums operate.

Freqflyer, not necessarily. A year after my mom passed away, all my cousins and I were contacted by a land man in TX, which may be the possibility with Pinklady52's uncle. And I doubt he's been paying taxes on that land either. Unless there's major drilling or he's living on the land, he isn't paying taxes. I say that because that's what happened with us. This land that our great grandfather bought back in the 1920's was passed down to the next generation after the previous one passed. There was nothing specifying in our great grandfather's will about the land. But it was called "real property" and his descendants were beneficiaries to that land. Since it's located in an area of TX were no one is living on that piece of property, there are no taxes assessed. And probate doesn't mean much since my dad last signed a lease in 2000. Unless they drill, which is why we all got the call, to sign a 3 year lease, then we will be paying taxes if there's activity on that land. That said, since Pinklady's mom is still alive, the property would go to her and the uncle not Pinklady, if that's how grandpa put it in his will. A land lawyer in TX and a call to the county where grandpa's will resides should resolve this.

Thank you to all that answered. To the one that said I sound like a spoiled niece: my grandparents raised me. My grandfather and I were extremely close and I did sign something that said his land was supposed to go to me. I didn't make a copy of what I signed at the time because being young and nieve, I thought I could trust my uncle to do the right thing since he was in charge of selling my grandpas house. My uncle has not kept in contact with me since I was a teenager. So, no I am not a spoiled neice. I'm just trying to do what my grandfather wanted and that is to keep the land in my family, meaning my uncle isn't even blood. I'm taking the advise and looking into the courts to see if anything was filed. Thank you to all who responded.

And I actually own my own business and am pretty well off myself. I don't need the $$ from the land, this is about principle and doing the right thing, not money. I find it so surprising to come on a forum and be personally attacked by people I don't even know. WOW. Thank you to the ones that were nice in their response.

Pinklady52, It is entirely possible there was no probate. If all assets were jointly owned with grandma, as JTWRS (joint tenants with rights of survival), they would have all passed on to her, no probate.
I don't know what you signed, but the only signatures on a will would have been grandpa and two witnesses. Very perplexing.

Find a good attorney experienced in estates and elder law. An attorney may seem expensive at first, but may give you piece of mind. At a consultation you don't need to pay an attorney anything and that attorney will tell you if there is anything you can do.