What is the name of your state? Illinois and Indiana
Hello, this is a complicated situation.
My father died 16 June 2003. This was his second marriage; mother died in 1990. All property was held jointly during his first marriage.
Second wife has multiple mental disorders; denies there is a will (I know for a fact there is one, but no one has a copy of will), purchased a home in IN by using a POA for my father's paidup home in IL with a line of credit, so now the home in IL is encumbered. The home in IL, if in proper condition, should sell for $300K+. The home is filled with trash, rotting food, etc. The second wife has abandoned the property for Indiana, which is held in my father's name alone. I have pulled deeds on all of the property that I can find, but I have reason to believe that there is a great deal of concealment of valuable property going on.
We are moving to have the 2nd wife removed as executor, as she has failed to close on the home in IL X2 occasions. She has evaded the process server X 6.
My brother is unwilling to assume duties as executor of the estate as he feels that he will be held financially liable for the proper insurance on the house in IL, as we do not know if the home insurance is paid up. We have an emergency hearing on 14 June 2004 to allow the children into the IL home as we have not been allowed into this home.
My question is: How do we obtain estate funds, and if no insurance is on the home in IL, are we responsible for paying the premiums? The house in IL is in dire disrepair, in need of repair, infested with rodents/insects/who knows what else. My father had done nothing to repair/maintain the home in the 14 years since my mother passed. He had alcoholism, as well as complications of alcoholism such as dementia, and lung CA when he died.
Our intention is to abide by the letter of the law, and we do have representation in IL, not IN, as we were assuming that we would be able to use an ancillary estate to transfer the IN property to the 2nd wife, as she decided that she wanted that house.
Thank you for your interest and advice in this matter. I greatly appreciate it.