You need to file probate INTESTATE immediately and ask the court to appoint YOU as the executor. You, as executor can then order the stepmother to either return all items sold at the auction or the proceeds received from the sale.
Correct. You also need to be ready to explain to a judge why it took you so long to do anything.
http://www.finance.cch.com/pops/c50s10d190_MO.asp
Missouri Intestate Succession Laws
If any part of a Missouri decedent's estate is not effectively disposed of by will, the intestate share will be distributed in the following order and manner:
1. Surviving spouse. A surviving spouse is generally first in line to get any assets from the intestate estate. However, the amount a surviving spouse is entitled to varies as follows:
* If there is no surviving issue of the decedent, a surviving spouse is entitled to the entire intestate estate.
* If the decedent is survived by issue, all of whom are also issue of the surviving spouse, the surviving spouse gets the first $20,000, plus one-half of the remaining balance of the intestate estate.
* If the decedent is survived by issue, one or more of whom are not issue of the surviving spouse, the surviving spouse gets one-half of the intestate estate.
2. Heirs other than surviving spouse. Any part of the intestate estate not passing to the surviving spouse as indicated above, or the entire intestate estate if there is no surviving spouse, passes as follows to decedent's:
1. Children, or their descendants, in equal parts.
2. Father, mother, brother or sister, or their descendants in equal parts.
3. Grandparents, and uncles and aunts, or their descendants in equal parts.
4. Great-grandfathers, great-grandmothers, or their descendants in equal parts.
5. Next of kin related to the decedent up to the ninth degree of kinship.
6. Predeceased spouse who, at the time of the spouse's death, was married to the decedent (i.e., left the decedent a widow/widower). The estate is then distributed according to the rules above, as if the predeceased spouse had died intestate.
3. State of Missouri. If there is no taker under any of the above provisions, the intestate estate passes by default ("escheats") to the state of Missouri.
Missouri Intestate Succession Law Fun Facts
* Decedent's children or descendants conceived before his death, but born thereafter, inherit as if they had been born in the lifetime of the decedent. However, this exception doesn't apply to any of decedent's other relatives.
* When dealing with collateral relatives that are of equal degree of kinship, relatives of the half-blood inherit half as much as relatives of the whole-blood.
* Any person who fails to survive the decedent by 120 hours is deemed to have predeceased the decedent for purposes of intestate succession (which means that the person generally doesn't get a share of the decedent's estate). If it cannot be established by clear and convincing evidence that the person who would otherwise be an heir has survived the decedent by 120 hours, it is considered that the person failed to survive for the required period. However, these rules don't apply if the end result is that the state of Missouri gets the intestate estate.
* Missouri's intestate succession laws, as well as laws relating to wills, can be found in Title XXXI, Chapter 474, of the Missouri Revised Statutes.
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