Mother dies with no will ?

[notsotrustin]

my mother died an had no will. she had requested that all her belongings be divided equally between the children. my brother got her house, but doesn't want to divid the contents. the house is all he was to get and contents be divided. he has already gotten rid of her car and some personal belongings that were to be divided. brother an his wife keep saying that he has power of attorney, but won't produce a document showing it. she had alot of old antique items. sister in law is starting to sell them. i would like to have some of them for sentimental reasons, but i cannot get to them. also, my daughter had bought some items and let my mother use them, and she can't even get those items back. do i have any legal rights and what might they be?

 

[loku]

No will

Your rights depend on state law and you did not mention your state. However, since your mother had no will, her wishes as to the property have no legal meaning. Nevertheless, the law of most states gives each of the children of a person, who died without a will, an equal share of the property. If you don’t get an equal share, you probably can petition the Probate Court for a hearing on the matter. How you do that depends on your state.

Sometimes a letter from a lawyer on your behalf gets a relative to listen to reason.

 

[notsotrustin]

loku........I do apologize for not including the state I live in, I live in Viginia. I have not been thinking clearly. My brother and his wife have been selling my mothers stuff and giving it to people. I did find out he never had power of attorney as he had said, and he and his wife were signing her checks and doing who knows what with. I appreciate your response to my inquiry.
Thank you