Step son made Legal Representative?

We live in Michigan, and my husbands brother lived in Albuquerque New Mexico for several years and passed away 2 weeks ago. He was only 47, was blind and died from a seizure. He had tried 6 yrs ago to commit suicide, this is how he ended up blind. His step son had loaned him his pistol for "target practice" (which Jerry never did!) and his step son knew he had problems. Anyway, now his step son says he's Jerry's legal representative. We don't have the means to go there to take care of things and we don't trust his step son and we don't know if he's telling us everything. My husband was the next of kin so shouldn't he have been contacted by somebody to see who he would want as a legal representative? Maybe he was made representative for just the funeral, etc. He said something about having to go to court on everything else. I know Jerry didn't have alot of assets, and as far as we know the step son hasn't been able to get to the bank account or Employee savings account where Jerry used to work. But nobody has tried to contact us and we don't know who to contact down there. The only will was one that's in Jerry's computer (it's password protected) and we don't know if he ever made it legal. His step son is his "step" son, he was never adopted. Can you tell me who to contact? We don't have the money to hire an attorney. But if we could get ahold of the court or someone down there maybe we can find something out. We'd like to contact someone as soon as possible before the step son gets ahold of anything and takes off.....thank you!!!

SEPT. 11, 2001

DEAR CAROLJO:

As the brother's next of kin, your husband will be entitled to some portion of the estate (I'll have to do some research on this and get back to you within a week).

However, as stepson, it does appear that he does have a legal right to serve as personal representative for the estate. Can you or can you not trust him to notify you by mail or by phone about your share of the estate whenever the estate is finished? Since you state that the estate is somewhat modest, there may not be very much left over after funeral expenses, outstanding debts, and taxes are paid.

What you can do now is to check at the county courthouse (of the city where the person died) to see if the will has been filed yet or not (if it has been, you can order copies of it sent to you). (If you don't know the address or phone number for the courthouse, then let me know what city the death occurred in and I can find it for you.) It probably has not been filed if the stepson did not know how to access it, and so the estate will be divided according to intestate procedures (without a will). Probably all that is on file now is the stepson's filing to become personal representative of the estate.

SINCERELY,

[email protected]

About all you can do is to hire your own attorney in the New Mexico area to find out what your share of the estate would be, or sit back and wait for the stepson to contact you.

SEPT. 13, 2001

DEAR CAROLJO:

Sorry to report the bad news, but it looks as if the New Mexico probate law is written in such a way that the Jerry's children (the stepson in this case) get everything, and there is no provision for any other relatives to receive anything unless there were no children surviving.

SINCERELY,

[email protected]

Thanks for all your help...I hadn't had a chance to check back here in awhile. Are you saying that even tho Jerry's step son was not adopted, he's really no relation to Jerry, that he'd inherit everything anyway? He hadn't even been around Jerry in quite awhile until about 3 weeks before Jerry died. I did talk to an Attorney in Albuquerque and he gave me the phone numbers to the court, so we're going to check things out with them too. I don't think there's a will, and there may not be enough in the estate to go to probate either. I just can't believe they'd hand anything over to someone that's not even related....normally it wouldn't bother us so much, if we trusted who was getting it! Anyway, I appreciate you getting back with me! thanks!
Carol

One more thing....we did get ahold of the benefits person where Jerry used to work and gave her all our information. They sent us the forms to fill out to withdraw the savings. We're just waiting for a death certificate. But since have found out that the VA is still doing tests to determine the reason for his death. I guess Trevor gave them permission for whatever test they want to do. Is this legal too? I would have thought my husband would have had to approve whatever they wanted to do. This is maddening!