rhiannon65
Member
What is the name of your state? Illinois
Dad died in June without a will. I finally got a hold of his wife and politely asked her if my sister and I would be able to have a few of his personal things (30 year old reel-to-reel and super 8 home movies of us on vacation, artwork she wouldn't let him hang, etc). While I remained civil, she was not, telling me "you ain't getting nuthin', and you haven't bothered with him in 9 years and your sister has enough stuff". "He wouldn't have wanted either of you to have anything." I said, "oh, so you're going to just going to keep it stored away, rather than giving it to us?" She said "Yeah, or maybe I'll hang it up". Then she hung up on me.
Anyway, I called my sister and she told me she spoke to an attorney who is a friend of a friend (she didn't know what kind of law he practiced) and he said that because of how the deed to their home reads, his wife would get it regardless of what intestate code reads (the deed is his name, her name, as tennants in entirety). That's fine. We don't want the house - it's a fixer upper, mortgaged to the hilt that needs about $100,000 worth of work. His wife is not working and to our knowledge, dad borrowed against all his insurance policies (can we find out if he had any that we might be beneficiaries on? It would be just like his wife to destroy the policies and I have no idea how we would know) so she would probably have to sell the house anyway, and once the debts are paid off (two cars, horses, credit cards, etc), there might not be much left.
Initially, my sister and I didn't care about the money, and it is still not an issue...the fact that his wife will not even let us have personal belongings (that she never wanted to have in the house and made dad store anyway) is a real drag. She has always been hostile toward us (we were over 20 when Dad got remarried and I think she always saw us a some kind of threat?), but to keep 30 year old home movies and things he acquired while he was married to our mother (who is also deceased) takes hostility to a different place.
Any specific suggestions?
Dad died in June without a will. I finally got a hold of his wife and politely asked her if my sister and I would be able to have a few of his personal things (30 year old reel-to-reel and super 8 home movies of us on vacation, artwork she wouldn't let him hang, etc). While I remained civil, she was not, telling me "you ain't getting nuthin', and you haven't bothered with him in 9 years and your sister has enough stuff". "He wouldn't have wanted either of you to have anything." I said, "oh, so you're going to just going to keep it stored away, rather than giving it to us?" She said "Yeah, or maybe I'll hang it up". Then she hung up on me.
Anyway, I called my sister and she told me she spoke to an attorney who is a friend of a friend (she didn't know what kind of law he practiced) and he said that because of how the deed to their home reads, his wife would get it regardless of what intestate code reads (the deed is his name, her name, as tennants in entirety). That's fine. We don't want the house - it's a fixer upper, mortgaged to the hilt that needs about $100,000 worth of work. His wife is not working and to our knowledge, dad borrowed against all his insurance policies (can we find out if he had any that we might be beneficiaries on? It would be just like his wife to destroy the policies and I have no idea how we would know) so she would probably have to sell the house anyway, and once the debts are paid off (two cars, horses, credit cards, etc), there might not be much left.
Initially, my sister and I didn't care about the money, and it is still not an issue...the fact that his wife will not even let us have personal belongings (that she never wanted to have in the house and made dad store anyway) is a real drag. She has always been hostile toward us (we were over 20 when Dad got remarried and I think she always saw us a some kind of threat?), but to keep 30 year old home movies and things he acquired while he was married to our mother (who is also deceased) takes hostility to a different place.
Any specific suggestions?
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