L
libra928
Guest
We live in the state of Pennsylvania. On March 6th of 1974,
my oldest sister, now almost 69 years old, married a man
seven years younger then she is. Fourteen years ago,
one week before Christmas, he packed up and left, telling
her that he was having an affair. She had no idea! He was
retired military, and continued to have his military pension
check deposited into her checking account. During the course
of thier marriage, they adopted a son together, who is now
22 years old. He has had a physical disability (heart condition) since birth. Long story short- they were never
legally seperated, nor would he institute a divorce, and
he has been living with a woman for seven years- not the
woman he left my sister for. His health, due to alcohol
abuse for many years, steadily deteriorated, until March 5th
of this year (2001) when he passed away. My sister is the
beneficiary on all of his insurance policies, and of his
military pension, veterans benerfits, etc. However, when
she mentioned having to get the paperwork to close his
bank accounts, since the responsibility of funeral services,
etcetera are hers as his legal wife, she was told that he
and the woman he lived with had a joint account, into which
his monthly social security benefits were directly deposited, and that the woman signed a document on the account so he could take money out of it! If they had
a joint account, to my way of thinking, she should not
have had to "sign a document for him to remove money."
Also, they are in joint ownership of a house recently (in
the last two years) purchased. Both his name and this
womans' appear on the deed. Since Pennsylvania is a community property state, if there were no provisions
made in a legal will, or no written agreement exists that
states if something should happen to him or the realtionship
ceased, that the home ownership by deed reverts to his
"partner", does my sister have legal claim to his half of
the property jointly owned by him? He would not agree to
divorce or legally seperate from my sister, and she was
in fact, responsible for thirteen years of the twenty
seven they were married, for many care issues- including
driving him back and forth to work when he lost his drivers
license four times, due to multiple DUI's. Since he left
no written will, is my sister entitled to inherit the rest
of his viable estate, since he would niether initiate or
agree to a legal seperation or divorce?
my oldest sister, now almost 69 years old, married a man
seven years younger then she is. Fourteen years ago,
one week before Christmas, he packed up and left, telling
her that he was having an affair. She had no idea! He was
retired military, and continued to have his military pension
check deposited into her checking account. During the course
of thier marriage, they adopted a son together, who is now
22 years old. He has had a physical disability (heart condition) since birth. Long story short- they were never
legally seperated, nor would he institute a divorce, and
he has been living with a woman for seven years- not the
woman he left my sister for. His health, due to alcohol
abuse for many years, steadily deteriorated, until March 5th
of this year (2001) when he passed away. My sister is the
beneficiary on all of his insurance policies, and of his
military pension, veterans benerfits, etc. However, when
she mentioned having to get the paperwork to close his
bank accounts, since the responsibility of funeral services,
etcetera are hers as his legal wife, she was told that he
and the woman he lived with had a joint account, into which
his monthly social security benefits were directly deposited, and that the woman signed a document on the account so he could take money out of it! If they had
a joint account, to my way of thinking, she should not
have had to "sign a document for him to remove money."
Also, they are in joint ownership of a house recently (in
the last two years) purchased. Both his name and this
womans' appear on the deed. Since Pennsylvania is a community property state, if there were no provisions
made in a legal will, or no written agreement exists that
states if something should happen to him or the realtionship
ceased, that the home ownership by deed reverts to his
"partner", does my sister have legal claim to his half of
the property jointly owned by him? He would not agree to
divorce or legally seperate from my sister, and she was
in fact, responsible for thirteen years of the twenty
seven they were married, for many care issues- including
driving him back and forth to work when he lost his drivers
license four times, due to multiple DUI's. Since he left
no written will, is my sister entitled to inherit the rest
of his viable estate, since he would niether initiate or
agree to a legal seperation or divorce?