What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CA
My father died in late 2011 without a will. My parents met in 1967. My mom was led to believe he was single for about nine years. During that time, she had my brother and I. By that point he had established a gardening business with my mother, a mom and pop business in every sense of the word. They were not legally married. My father would take annual trips out of the country to visit relatives and tend to his ranch, my mother would always stay behind to take care of the business.
In the ninth year, a woman and her kids came into the picture from out of the country, who ended up being his WIFE and our older siblings. They stayed, and the wife and a younger daughter ended up living in a house that my father had bought in the early 80's. The deed was/is in his name only. The wife/daughter didn't stick around very long and abandoned the home in 1985. She filed for divorce in 1986. The divorce finalized around 1990, with an alimony settlement (50/50 split on the sale of the home). My father wanted to keep the property so he convinced my mother to take out a loan on her own home to cover her share. Eventually, he refinanced a mortgage on his home and combined my mother's loan in the process. In those short amount of years she was living there, she never once played any active part in the business (i.e. clientele, bookkeeping, field work), her name was not on any paperwork, etc. My parents finally married in 1992.
My mother was referred to an attorney by a zealous realtor (who used to work with my father) who was a hundred miles away and in the end, did not understand this story. Nevertheless, he filed a Spousal Property Petition on her behalf, which ended up getting objected by my older siblings. We dropped the petition as 1) he was showing much disinterest in the case and 2) he was just too far away.
She then found another attorney who was in town and showed much promise and possibility in getting this settled. His strategy was to try to get them to agree to the petition so we could sell quickly (and avoid probate). The property is a multi unit and is tenant occupied, the place is old and needs much repair. My mother has limited funds and barely makes the mortgage payment each month. One of the tenants is extremely delinquent (~$20K) and is taking advantage of our situation. We don't have money to cover the repairs or get this guy evicted. We really just want to get rid of this place.
We secured this attorney last summer. This whole time we have done nothing but wait, mediate, hand over financial spreadsheets, wait some more, hand over copies of invoices and debts left over from my father i.e. IRS, hospital. He has really been nothing but unhelpful, and not really proactive at "pushing" their attorney to get them to even make up their mind. Instead they took the financial statement and started harassing and intimidating the tenants over past rent. One of the tenants who lives there was threatened in front of me by one of the older siblings over a year ago about not being on "his side", he just had pickup stolen from in front of the house, where it was parked overnight. In the other country, they keep putting my cousin (who's helping us with legal issues there) in jail on trumped up charges. A few years ago, one of them ran off my father with a gun. Just establishing what sort of people the "opposing party" are like. At the mediation hearing, they tried to sneak in a "family advisor", who turned out to be a realtor.
So finally, we met with him in person to discuss the next course of action, at which he was not interested in listening to my mother (I'm doing most of the communicating) --my mother is 78, mind you and a quiet, well mannered, respectable person, not the "nightmarish" difficult client-- he kept interrupting her and finally told her to "stop", and dismissed her story of her contributions to the business (and their absence, in turn) over the last 45 years as "emotional".
We decided that we wanted to try the Spousal Petition again, but not before having my mother sign a promissory note for $10000 (my mother paid a ~$3500 retainer and has long used that up, she now has a balance of a similar amount) to begin accruing interest, originally in June. Given the uncertainty, my mother asked for December. His face went even more sour, and quipped "if I'm still around". My mother left very discouraged and helpless.
Now the promissory note isn't good enough, apparently. He now wants to slap a lien on my mother's home for that amount. Is this common practice, or even ethical? What can we do? My mother doesn't want to pay any more retainers (finding another lawyer). She's exhausted and very stressed out. His curt, insensitive tone doesn't help.
What rights does my mother have, given her circumstances? These knuckleheads really don't deserve a thing, IMHO. Their relationship with my father was often strained, and they often caused problems. They were barely around the majority of the time, and only started coming around when my father got sick. This question is stemming from the loan situation when my father divorced. Community property? How about the tenant situation? How much can this hold up in court? Our attorney straight told us we are going to lose, and that none of that would hold up.
Thanks in advance for your help.
My father died in late 2011 without a will. My parents met in 1967. My mom was led to believe he was single for about nine years. During that time, she had my brother and I. By that point he had established a gardening business with my mother, a mom and pop business in every sense of the word. They were not legally married. My father would take annual trips out of the country to visit relatives and tend to his ranch, my mother would always stay behind to take care of the business.
In the ninth year, a woman and her kids came into the picture from out of the country, who ended up being his WIFE and our older siblings. They stayed, and the wife and a younger daughter ended up living in a house that my father had bought in the early 80's. The deed was/is in his name only. The wife/daughter didn't stick around very long and abandoned the home in 1985. She filed for divorce in 1986. The divorce finalized around 1990, with an alimony settlement (50/50 split on the sale of the home). My father wanted to keep the property so he convinced my mother to take out a loan on her own home to cover her share. Eventually, he refinanced a mortgage on his home and combined my mother's loan in the process. In those short amount of years she was living there, she never once played any active part in the business (i.e. clientele, bookkeeping, field work), her name was not on any paperwork, etc. My parents finally married in 1992.
My mother was referred to an attorney by a zealous realtor (who used to work with my father) who was a hundred miles away and in the end, did not understand this story. Nevertheless, he filed a Spousal Property Petition on her behalf, which ended up getting objected by my older siblings. We dropped the petition as 1) he was showing much disinterest in the case and 2) he was just too far away.
She then found another attorney who was in town and showed much promise and possibility in getting this settled. His strategy was to try to get them to agree to the petition so we could sell quickly (and avoid probate). The property is a multi unit and is tenant occupied, the place is old and needs much repair. My mother has limited funds and barely makes the mortgage payment each month. One of the tenants is extremely delinquent (~$20K) and is taking advantage of our situation. We don't have money to cover the repairs or get this guy evicted. We really just want to get rid of this place.
We secured this attorney last summer. This whole time we have done nothing but wait, mediate, hand over financial spreadsheets, wait some more, hand over copies of invoices and debts left over from my father i.e. IRS, hospital. He has really been nothing but unhelpful, and not really proactive at "pushing" their attorney to get them to even make up their mind. Instead they took the financial statement and started harassing and intimidating the tenants over past rent. One of the tenants who lives there was threatened in front of me by one of the older siblings over a year ago about not being on "his side", he just had pickup stolen from in front of the house, where it was parked overnight. In the other country, they keep putting my cousin (who's helping us with legal issues there) in jail on trumped up charges. A few years ago, one of them ran off my father with a gun. Just establishing what sort of people the "opposing party" are like. At the mediation hearing, they tried to sneak in a "family advisor", who turned out to be a realtor.
So finally, we met with him in person to discuss the next course of action, at which he was not interested in listening to my mother (I'm doing most of the communicating) --my mother is 78, mind you and a quiet, well mannered, respectable person, not the "nightmarish" difficult client-- he kept interrupting her and finally told her to "stop", and dismissed her story of her contributions to the business (and their absence, in turn) over the last 45 years as "emotional".
We decided that we wanted to try the Spousal Petition again, but not before having my mother sign a promissory note for $10000 (my mother paid a ~$3500 retainer and has long used that up, she now has a balance of a similar amount) to begin accruing interest, originally in June. Given the uncertainty, my mother asked for December. His face went even more sour, and quipped "if I'm still around". My mother left very discouraged and helpless.
Now the promissory note isn't good enough, apparently. He now wants to slap a lien on my mother's home for that amount. Is this common practice, or even ethical? What can we do? My mother doesn't want to pay any more retainers (finding another lawyer). She's exhausted and very stressed out. His curt, insensitive tone doesn't help.
What rights does my mother have, given her circumstances? These knuckleheads really don't deserve a thing, IMHO. Their relationship with my father was often strained, and they often caused problems. They were barely around the majority of the time, and only started coming around when my father got sick. This question is stemming from the loan situation when my father divorced. Community property? How about the tenant situation? How much can this hold up in court? Our attorney straight told us we are going to lose, and that none of that would hold up.
Thanks in advance for your help.
