Inheritance or something else...?

Quick question... if a property was gifted 12 years ago and the title has already been transferred to the new owner, can it still be pulled into probate? Or would the other heirs—the ones left out of the original deed—have to file a specific lawsuit to claim their forced heirship portion now that the donor has passed? What’s the actual legal process for that? Thanks😁

It was gifted twelve years ago—I have no idea how on earth you'd try to dump that into the estate assets now🤔
why would they even contest it?

Look at the legal portion of this—if the deceased left absolutely nothing behind, why on earth are you digging for property you have zero 😁 claim to?
If there’s no estate to speak of, there’s no probate process to run 😬

Thomas Miller80 said:Look at the legal portion of this—if the deceased left absolutely nothing behind, why on earth are you digging for property you have zero 😁 claim to?
If there’s no estate to speak of, there’s no probate process to run 😬

My dad received that house through a gift deed. Now that his mother passed away, his two brothers and two sisters are acting like they have a claim to a property that was gifted solely to him. He already gave half of it to my mom, but that’s beside the point right now. Basically, they've declared they're going after a piece of the property and have filed for probate. In my experience, that specific house shouldn't even be on the table during the proceedings, but I guess you can never be too sure...

P.S. I won't take what isn't mine, but I'm certainly not giving up what is. 😈 😘

So, he's going after his own son?
Well, that's a whole other set of legal hurdles right there. 😬
Basically:
(1) To figure out the value of the estate used to calculate the forced heirship portion, you follow this process:

1. First, you have to inventory and appraise every single asset the deceased owned at the time of death—this includes everything mentioned in the will, all receivables, and any money owed to them by an heir (unless those debts are clearly uncollectible).

2. From that total asset value, you subtract the deceased's outstanding debts, the costs for the inventory and appraisal, and the funeral expenses.

3. Then, you add back the value of all gifts the deceased gave to any legal heir in any manner—regardless of whether they actually inherit—including gifts made to heirs who waived their inheritance, and even those specific gifts where the deceased explicitly ordered they shouldn't count toward the heir's share.

4. You also add the value of any gifts the deceased made to non-heirs during their final year of life, excluding small, customary gifts.

(2) Donations made for charitable purposes or those specifically excluded from an heir's share by law aren't factored into this calculation.

But let's get real here—is there actually any other property left behind?

p.s. Is he actually going to come looking for it?
No way.
Not a chance. 🙂

Not real estate... just personal property. We’re talking furniture, checking accounts, an Italian pension, some back pay from her US Social Security, stuff like that. Nothing major. As for the funeral, my parents handled everything—the service and the plot at the cemetery. None of my siblings chipped in a dime. Side note: she was living with us in that house. ☕
My parents were the ones who paid the buyout for the property. Not any of the other kids. 😎

Thomas Miller80 said:It was gifted twelve years ago—I have no idea how on earth you'd try to dump that into the estate assets now🤔
why would they even contest it?

"A miracle of the lower extremities," they claim in the opening post.

urbangull25 said:Not real estate... just personal property. We’re talking furniture, checking accounts, an Italian pension, some back pay from her US Social Security, stuff like that. Nothing major. As for the funeral, my parents handled everything—the service and the plot at the cemetery. None of my siblings chipped in a dime. Side note: she was living with us in that house. ☕
My parents were the ones who paid the buyout for the property. Not any of the other kids. 😎

If the other legal heirs decide they want to make a stink about that gifted property during probate, then yeah, expect some serious drama.
Since you’re busy listing off all these points and making such specific claims, if I were in your shoes, I'd probably just go talk to a lawyer.
Well, you make the call then.
🙂

But how does something gifted all those years ago suddenly count as part of an estate??
In my book, if someone wants to try and trigger a special legal dispute over it, they should have done it way back when. That wasn't part of her inheritance—it was given away a long time ago.

urbangull25 said:But how does something gifted all those years ago suddenly count as part of an estate??
In my book, if someone wants to try and trigger a special legal dispute over it, they should have done it way back when. That wasn't part of her inheritance—it was given away a long time ago.

I agree, though I'm not sure if there's some specific statute of limitations involved after all these years...
I remember hearing something about a ten-year rule, but I have no clue if
that applies to returning gifts to an estate or just generally 😕
I'll dig around for the legal specifics if nobody else posts here first.
🙂

Sandra Parker3 said:I agree, though I'm not sure if there's some specific statute of limitations involved after all these years...
I remember hearing something about a ten-year rule, but I have no clue if
that applies to returning gifts to an estate or just generally 😕
I'll dig around for the legal specifics if nobody else posts here first.
🙂

thanks 😘

btw..any advice is welcome.😁

Under Section 89 of the Probate Code, your father's siblings have the right to request what’s called an "imputation of gifts,"
basically asking for that gifted apartment to be factored back into the total estate value (it doesn't look like there's a statute of limitations on this, at least from what I can see).
The funeral expenses you covered get deducted from the estate's total value,
so they're credited back to you—just look at the legal section I mentioned above.
If there’s anything else left that could be added to the estate,
like that Italian pension, any remaining Social Security benefits, or money sitting in bank accounts...
all of that needs to be listed and then calculated to see if it covers the mandatory shares for the other heirs. It all really depends on how much that gift was worth.
I already laid out how to calculate the forced heirship portion over in that other thread.
Also, regarding the buyout you mentioned, do you actually have receipts proving you paid for it?
Because that carries some serious legal weight, and right now, I'm just shooting in the dark here.
The fact that she lived with you matters too.
Did she give anyone else any gifts while she was alive?
Regarding the apartment received as a gift: did you personally spend money to increase its market value?
If you did, and you can prove it, that works heavily in your favor.
Honestly, there isn't much more I can tell you.
If you guys can't see eye to eye, your best bet is seriously to go talk to a lawyer.
That's just my take on it. Best, 🙂
PS
It would be huge if someone could clarify whether that half gifted to your mom is excluded from the estate mass.
That would help a lot.
Personally, I've heard people say (unrelated to the actual probate)
that these kinds of gifts are seen as blatant manipulation and usually don't hold up legally—they're mostly just strategic moves.
But I haven't double-checked if that actually holds water in court yet. 😉

Yeah... my lawyer told me that the part of the apartment gifted to my mom doesn't count toward the estate. Since it was a good-faith gift made a few years back, it's off the table. To make matters worse, she mentioned the place was sold in the interim, so none of the other relatives would have any claim to anything anyway.

Thanks for looking into this for me, 🙂

Sandra Parker3 said:"A miracle of the lower extremities," they claim in the opening post.

If the other legal heirs decide they want to make a stink about that gifted property during probate, then yeah, expect some serious drama.
Since you’re busy listing off all these points and making such specific claims, if I were in your shoes, I'd probably just go talk to a lawyer.
Well, you make the call then.
🙂

I didn't realize in that first post that our "gifted" guy is also the heir to the throne ☕ so I asked ☕ since I clearly missed the fine print 😁

And honestly? That anatomical miracle doesn't mean squat if he handed that gift over to Detective Miller in Chicago twelve years ago ☕

Thomas Miller80 said:I didn't realize in that first post that our "gifted" guy is also the heir to the throne ☕ so I asked ☕ since I clearly missed the fine print 😁

And honestly? That anatomical miracle doesn't mean squat if he handed that gift over to Detective Miller in Chicago twelve years ago ☕

Look, your answer isn't making much sense to me 😕 ..just walk me through it again, step by step.. leave out the stuff about Miller and Chicago 🤣

She literally laid it out in her previous post where she quoted the law
regarding what gets factored into the estate when you're calculating the forced heirship portion
so you have to include gifts—it doesn't matter how long ago they were given if they're going to the heirs, but for anyone else, there’s a one-year limit on gifts before death🙂

Alright... thanks. 😘

Thomas Miller80 said:She literally laid it out in her previous post where she quoted the law
regarding what gets factored into the estate when you're calculating the forced heirship portion
so you have to include gifts—it doesn't matter how long ago they were given if they're going to the heirs, but for anyone else, there’s a one-year limit on gifts before death🙂

Ali her father is an heir!!!
When calculating the mandatory portion of the estate, that gift counts.

My father originally intended to transfer his house and a small portion of his estate through a gift deed. We sat down with an attorney, but he advised against it—noting that gift deeds can be easily contested in court. So, we walked away from that idea. Instead, we decided to structure everything as a formal sale.

silentcanyon102 said:My father originally intended to transfer his house and a small portion of his estate through a gift deed. We sat down with an attorney, but he advised against it—noting that gift deeds can be easily contested in court. So, we walked away from that idea. Instead, we decided to structure everything as a formal sale.

It’s a good thing you actually listened to some advice 🙂. Otherwise, you could’ve ended up signing one of those infamous life estate or perpetual lease agreements.
In theory, people ought to know better or at least ask for help.
But how are you supposed to know what you don't know?😕