irishred30
Junior Member
What is the name of your state? I live in Colorado but the estate in question is South Carolina.
My father who I was close with, unexpectedly died in March of this year with no will. At the time of his death I took nothing, asked for nothing as other than the home there really wasn't much. He was survived by his wife, a brother a sister and myself. I knew from conversations with him that if something was to happen to him he wanted his wife to be taken care of, he had reason to believe she would die before him, so he didn't do much other planning. He had told me to sell his belongings and make sure his wife had money to live. The home and car were in his name solely (again, as he thought she would pass first) and the DMV required that I sign off and sell my portion of the car to his wife so she could have it retitled, I did so as I knew she would need the vehicle or at the very least would need to sell it to get something she could get around in. The estate never went into probate, his wife had said she would take care of things, and I returned home. Since I don't know anything about estates, probate or the like, it never really occurred to me that we needed to do much of anything. Well in October, his wife told me she was going to sell the home, that in fact she already had a buyer and that whatever funds there were she would make sure they were divided correctly. I told her to let me know if there was anything I could do to help let me know and if I needed to sign anything (like in the case of the car) to have the Realtor get in touch with me. She said she would, then went into her plans and told me that when she passed whatever was left should go to me as it was my fathers house. Well she died a couple days later, with no will. She had already signed the necessary papers to sell the home but closing is now approaching. So heres the where things get interesting...
Her siblings (who she wasn't close with and hadn't seen in about 30 years) is now saying that the proceeds of the home sale all go to them. The tax assessment office as well as the mortgage list the home only in my fathers name, but the Realtor agrees with her family and will not return my calls. I know my fathers intent would not be to give these people who he had no relationship, anything, and because of the lack of a relationship, I know his wife wouldn't have cared to leave them anything.
So my question is, do I have any rights to the estate since we did not in fact go through probate? I am told that the entire estate passed to his surviving wife and that it is simple as that. Any light that can be shed on this situation would be appreciated.
My father who I was close with, unexpectedly died in March of this year with no will. At the time of his death I took nothing, asked for nothing as other than the home there really wasn't much. He was survived by his wife, a brother a sister and myself. I knew from conversations with him that if something was to happen to him he wanted his wife to be taken care of, he had reason to believe she would die before him, so he didn't do much other planning. He had told me to sell his belongings and make sure his wife had money to live. The home and car were in his name solely (again, as he thought she would pass first) and the DMV required that I sign off and sell my portion of the car to his wife so she could have it retitled, I did so as I knew she would need the vehicle or at the very least would need to sell it to get something she could get around in. The estate never went into probate, his wife had said she would take care of things, and I returned home. Since I don't know anything about estates, probate or the like, it never really occurred to me that we needed to do much of anything. Well in October, his wife told me she was going to sell the home, that in fact she already had a buyer and that whatever funds there were she would make sure they were divided correctly. I told her to let me know if there was anything I could do to help let me know and if I needed to sign anything (like in the case of the car) to have the Realtor get in touch with me. She said she would, then went into her plans and told me that when she passed whatever was left should go to me as it was my fathers house. Well she died a couple days later, with no will. She had already signed the necessary papers to sell the home but closing is now approaching. So heres the where things get interesting...
Her siblings (who she wasn't close with and hadn't seen in about 30 years) is now saying that the proceeds of the home sale all go to them. The tax assessment office as well as the mortgage list the home only in my fathers name, but the Realtor agrees with her family and will not return my calls. I know my fathers intent would not be to give these people who he had no relationship, anything, and because of the lack of a relationship, I know his wife wouldn't have cared to leave them anything.
So my question is, do I have any rights to the estate since we did not in fact go through probate? I am told that the entire estate passed to his surviving wife and that it is simple as that. Any light that can be shed on this situation would be appreciated.