Legal issues?

GeoDude,
As a lawyer in Brazil I can't say whether the handwritten will is legal in California. I believe it is possible that a court would consider it legal to a certain extent (given that its originality is certified) since it represents the true last will of the property owner. But as to its enforceability, I can't tell.

As for your second question, in Brazil the debts of a deceased person can be transferred for their heir, but only to the extent of the assets left by such person. So, if a person leaves U$ 10,000 in debt and U$ 5,000 worth in assets, only U$ 5,000 may be recovered by the creditors.

As far as legal premises go, this movie is pure BS...

I'm not a lawyer, but there does seem to be some flaws in the legal aspects of the movie.

A quick browse of the internet suggests holographic wills are legal in California among other states. At least it would not be something a group of people sitting in a Realtor's office would just decide when none were experts on the law in California. IOW they couldn't just blow off the will he had so nonchalantly.

But I think the problems go deeper. If someone is to act on a will....holographic or not, I pretty sure they have to register it at the registrar's office. If he was to have really taken ownership of the property, this is something Jake would have needed to do long before Ana showed up. And I'm pretty sure the Realtor would have told him that. At that time, someone would have decided whether the will was legal or not. And then, somehow someone would've needed to find the deed...ascertain that Flo owned the property to begin with and somehow officially transfer it over to Jake. In that case, Jake would have had a deed.

Clearly there was something shady about Jake's occupancy in that he had to/was able to go to the tax office and pay (part of) the taxes. If he'd been there for a couple of years, that means/suggests he hadn't even been paying taxes. He was just squatting.

I wonder if he would've been able to even get a license for a BnB without showing someone that he actually had a deed to/owned the property. It would seem odd not to.

It was never clear how Ana would have obtained the deed she claimed to have. It's not impossible, but seems unlikely that her father would've just been sitting on a deed to all that property. If he had, he would have likely taken action earlier to get himself out of debt. So if she didn't get it from her father, how DID she get it? A fake printer? How would someone in California just happen to know Ana's father died such that they'd just up and send the deed to Brazil? And why wait until the father died before doing so?

Having said all that, I still like this movie and have watched it many times. The story, while legally incredible, is interesting and the actors portray it well.