My wife received a letter from a Mutual insurance company. They needed info about her brother LP. Turns out that LP had taken out a policy back in 1974. Well LP died in 1992. He had his father as the primary and his mother as the contingency. His mother died in 1991 and his father remarried 4 days before LP died. Then his father died this year. Can the wicked step-mother step forward and say "It's mine" Or does it follow the blood line and go to the siblings? The woman on the phone said that it was a "nice chunk of change".
2007-09-15 16:54:08 · 4 answers · asked by PcCowboy 2 in Business & Finance ➔ Insurance
Now that would open up a whole can of worms.
1. There is a will. Her grandson told me that he was the executor and that he had a copy of it and his lawyer had a copy. But it was never filed.
2. The father's sons got into a fight over his personal things and the step-mother kicked them out saying that there would be no reading of the will and that she would be re-writing it so that they would get nothing
3. There is no longer any estate as that she has now sold everything of his including property that has been in the family for 3 generations.
4. We are all poor people living on the other side of the State of Texas and can't afford to drive over there to do anything about it or get a lawyer.
2007-09-16 03:38:30 · update #1
His father was the primary beneficiary at the time of LP's death. Therefore if he had submitted the claim it would have gone to him in 1992. Whoever is the Executor of the father's estate needs to have this come into probate (i.e. the Executor needs to file a claim for payment of the death benefit) since the payment would pass to the Estate and would be allocated by the court according to the father's will. If there is no will then someone needs to go down to the probate court and start the probate process.
I strongly advice you go get an attorney for advice and to protect the family's best interests.
Okay from the additional information you have provided it is up to the grandson to take the will he has and get it into probate. The stepmother cannot re-write a will to favor herself after her husband died nor was she supposed to sell off items. The grandson needs to do this pronto!
Good Luck
2007-09-15 17:09:11 · answer #1 · answered by Margarita D 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
This is indeed a can of worms. There will be many fights over this. As far as I understand it should follow the blood line. As for the property being sold off, some one had to notify the Surrogates court and there WILL BE an accounting of how and who sold the property. There may also be a need to file a income tax return to show the property was sold and there may be taxes owed the state and federal government. The second wife may not know this and will have a problem later down the road. I would check to see if there is a legal service you can use based on your income, to get help with this. Be prepared, there will be family fights and it is all just a sad thing that $ dose this to families.
2007-09-17 12:06:10 · answer #2 · answered by mchlw43 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
All wills have to be probated. Anyone can go to the court and open probate. Small personal possessions are not usually a problem if they are disposed of but the large things such as property and jewelry, antiques etc are part of the estate that must be probated. The executor of the estate will be in charge and most likely will have to be bonded. It's much easier to pay an attorney to do all of this and make sure that it is done correctly..especially if there are family disagreements. LP's life insurance proceeds would be part of his father's estate and would be distributed according to the terms of his will.
2007-09-19 07:23:47 · answer #3 · answered by Diane M 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Best person to ask is the grandson's lawyer, as this person is both a lawyer and a person who has seen the father's will.
2007-09-16 07:15:53 · answer #4 · answered by StephenWeinstein 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋