Any lawyers familar with estates?

[ImpulsE69]

Cliff notes to a much longer dramatic story:

Married mother had used what was supposed to be inheritance money left to her and her children, but never gave us to buy a house. We didn't know about this until right about the time she was dying. House was paid off and was in both their names. She had no will.

The guy she was married to died 6 months later - also no will

Both had 3 kids each (6 total)

We're being told that his 3 kids get 2/3 and we only get 1/3 because our mother died first. His kids were trying to sell the house for cash w/o us knowing, but I guess they ran into issues but are still trying to get the sale through before we get too involved. While I realize we're screwed on the whole "inheritance" part, do we really not get half?

Is this real? I can't really find any specifics around this scenario. We are prepared to get a lawyer, but given the numbers, it may not be worth bothering...

This is in Texas by the way.

 

[Canun]

You can look up some of that online. My mother-in-law just had her husband pass away, and his kid from another marriage tried to get money. She was trying to get money from the sale of a house prior to the one they lived in when he passed away. Crazy stuff, but essentially, without a will, it all went to mother-in-law.

In your case, first off, did the mom only have the house in her name, or was it joint ownership? If not joint, then you would be eligible for a large portion of the sale of the house. If joint, I don't know how it works out exactly. I looked up the law online to get the basic info. If you feel you have a bigger claim, get a lawyer to send a letter. Usually scares people enough to act straight.

 

[ImpulsE69]

It was in both their names.

And yea, we figured that since she didn't have a will it all went to him. Which we didn't have an issue with. We only started looking into it when we found out he died because there was a ton of cash unaccounted for. Turns out, his kids had been siphoning it off for the last 6 months. I didn't even care really until it started looking like they were trying to screw us over.

 

[Brainonska511]

Sounds like you really need to consult an estate attorney, partly because these laws vary from state to state and time limits to file claims.

 

[louis redfoot]

was the house purchased before or after marriage? if after, you still have a chance. if before, your chances are even better. either way, since the deaths were so close together, there is enough overlap that your mom's estate could supercede the stepdad's.

i don't know the letter of the law here, or the other side of the story. but if i was to make a summary judgement, i'd at the least reverse the weighting... that kind of underhanded dealing is against the spirit of family.

is anyone involved in a "gang"?

 

[ElFenix]

call a lawyer instead of the internet.


edit: https://www.traviscountytx.gov/images/probate/Docs/DnD_diagrams.pdf

 

[NesuD]

call a lawyer instead of the internet.

This^^

Estate law can be very different from state to state. When there are children from different marriages involved it gets far more complex. I am in that situation. My father put together a will to make sure his estate was divided among all his children natural and step in the way he saw fit. after 10 years he finally showed it to me or at least the copy that he keeps in his safe deposit box. I sure hope his lawyer has signed copies because the one he showed me was completely unsigned. I got the power of attorney portions signed by bringing in my own notary. I am pretty certain that I will probably end up with nothing when he passes and that is fine. All I am interested in is a couple of personal items of his that have meaning for me. One that I gave him as a gift and another that I have memories of him using when I was very very young before second family, half brothers, and step sisters came along. He recently told me that he was giving that item to a half brother. I was kind of stunned because I had expressed an interest in that item 20 years ago and since it holds far more sentimental meaning to me than it could ever for my half brother I have to think the evil stepmother must have been involved in that decision somehow. Yes she was truly evil and I know she is burning in hell now. Point I guess I'm trying to make is get a lawyer but make sure it means enough to you to go down that road. You are likely to be filled with disappointment at the outcome. I never asked my dad for anything my entire life.I am not going to start after he's gone.

 

[dud]

This is one of the many reasons that probate exists. Usually the proceeds of an estate cannot be disposed of without them going through probate. This is to protect the heirs ... and to make the lawyer(s) a lot of money.

This is why we should all consider having the four basic estate documents in-place:

1) Durable power of attorney
2) Healthcare surrogate
3) Revocable living trust
4) Living will

 

[dullard]

At least you got 1/3. Same thing happened to my grandmother. Shortly before she died, she got married. When she died, she had no will and her new husband (and his kids) got everything. The new husband's kids did toss a piece of costume jewelry to my mother (kept the real wedding ring from my grandmother and true grandfather).

They had nothing of actual value to fight for. So we didn't fight.

 

[ImpulsE69]

call a lawyer instead of the internet.


edit: https://www.traviscountytx.gov/images/probate/Docs/DnD_diagrams.pdf

This doc was helpful and really answers my question. And yea, we were looking at lawyers, but after looking at the numbers, it didn't make sense to get one because it would have eaten most of it up. I decided to crowdscource the info to at least see if what we initially were told held true.

@dullard - Yea, that is kind of where we are. The house is obviously worth some money, but due to the number of people, and lawyers fees and taxes, it's pretty much not worth fighting over. I am probably goign to tell my brothers they can have my portion and they can use it to pay the lawyers. At least they'll get something out of it.

@dud - They are really trying to not go to probate which is another reason we think there is something fishy going on.