bad feelings

[confusedlost]

What is the name of your state? TX

My father died five months ago. He left behind me and my brother along with a fiancee. He was engaged for one month before he died, but she had been living with him for close to twenty years. Because of this she is claiming common law marriage. My father's family is very upset and feel that she is going to try and take my father's home and the life insurance money.

The lawyer that she picked out and my brother and I agreed to, has yet to give us a case number, but says the judge wants lots of information from family members and on the property in louisiana.

My bother and I think she is trying to get people to fill out papers stating that her and my father were common law married, so thet she can get the life insurance money.

Are there any reasons why this process would take so long, or am I missing some kind of time frame in texas laws that no one is telling my brother and I about?

 

[hexeliebe]

My bother and I think she is trying to get people to fill out papers stating that her and my father were common law married, so thet she can get the life insurance money.

Life insurance is not part of your father's estate. It goes to the beneficary named on the policy period.

Are there any reasons why this process would take so long, or am I missing some kind of time frame in texas laws that no one is telling my brother and I about?

You're not missing anything. Estates can be wrapped up in as little as a few months or take as long as 20 or more years. It all depends on if your father had a will, died intestate or other conditions of his estate.

 

[Dandy Don]

She can't just claim common-law marriage--you need to be tallking to your own probate attorney to get an answer as to whether she can claim this or not (she probably can't) and you also need to be finding out the name and address of the insurance company and exactly WHO the beneficiary.

Don't depend on HER attorney to tell you anything--he could if he wanted to--but unfortunately he is only interested in representing HER best interests and is not going to want to give you all any information at all. They are trying to stall and delay in order to try to claim as many of the assets as they can and keeping you all in the dark.

The most important thing you have not mentioned is whether he left a will or not!! If you can afford to hire your own probate attorney to represent your interests in communicating with the other attorney and getting your own questions answered, then please do so.

You can go to the courthouse yourself and find out what the case number is and look to see what paperwork has already been done for this estate.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])

 

[confusedlost]

Thanks for the replies.

My father did not name a beneficiary on the life insurance, but the representative stated that if Texas recognizes her as common law, then they will also have to.

My farther unfortunately did not leave a will. If he did it was not recorded with the courts. If it was in his home my brother and I couldn't find it.

My brother and I are trying to decide if we ant to get our own lawyer, but we don't have the money, plus we sign the fiancee as the administrator of the estate. Is that even legal? How can it be decided whether or not she was my father's common law wife?

 

[hexeliebe]

Anyone can be assigned the administrator of the estate. But do not let girlfriend do this uncontested. You or your brother need to ask the court to appoint one of you as the administrator. Otherwise, you're giving away the power to know what is happening to the estate.

 

[Dandy Don]

I wish to correct my earlier posting--I didn't see that she had been with him for 20 years. Yes, this might be long enough for her to claim common-law status. You need to be asking a local lawyer about the common-law status question.

At this point it doesn't seem like there is much you can do except to attend one or more of the probate court hearings to see how things play out and just hopefully wait to receive your portion of the estate.

 

[Dandy Don]

Even if she was common law she would only be eligible for about 1/2 of the estate. If you can't afford your own attorney, at least try to attend one or more of the probate hearings so you can find out what the estate is worth and what your share is going to be--if they were honest, they would tell you, but since it appears they are greedy they may not necessarily tell you what you are entitled to--hence, if you can afford to hire a probate attorney, just on an hourly basis for answering questions and consultation only, it would be worth it to get an honest answer to what you can expect to receive from this estate, since you do qualify for a legal share of it.