My father passed away unexpectedly almost a year ago. He had 3 adult children, myself included, from his first marriage. We found no will on record. He had life insurance. His second wife has refused to allow us access to any of our personal belongings that our father had been storing for us. She also has been liquidating his things like vehicles and tools etc. We are in the dark to anything she is selling/going through. I read that his assets would belong half to her and half split between his 3 children, but I dont know if that is true. Do we have any legal standing in any way? We had a falling out when he first passed because she tried to get us to pay for his funeral and expenses. He had life insurance for exactly that so we refused. There has been no communication either way since.
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No will, any legal standing?
- Thread starter Mleannp
- Start date
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FlyingRon
Senior Member
The life insurance typically will have a beneficiary other than the estate. The will or lack there of has no bearing, the insurance company pays the beneficiary.
As for the intestate rights to the estate, the surviving spouse may get more than half. It depends on the amounts involved. The law says, 25% off the top (but not less than $50,000 nor more than $200,000), plus half of what's left. Presuming there are no other children involved, then you split the rest.
You should contact a lawyer and get probate opened. This can compel things to be done properly.
As for the intestate rights to the estate, the surviving spouse may get more than half. It depends on the amounts involved. The law says, 25% off the top (but not less than $50,000 nor more than $200,000), plus half of what's left. Presuming there are no other children involved, then you split the rest.
You should contact a lawyer and get probate opened. This can compel things to be done properly.
I would imagine his assets to have been below $50,000, but I don’t know for sure. There are no other children involved. We’ve been trying to let the dust settle by not contacting her, but now we are seeing things like vehicles disappearing so know she is getting rid of stuff. We aren’t even looking for money, just our personal belongings and something to remember our dad by. We’ve just been patiently hoping she goes back to her own country.
adjusterjack
Senior Member
If, like most married couples, they owned everything jointly with right of survivorship everything goes to her. Personal property is considered owned by the person who possesses it unless there is documentary evidence to the contrary. If you have such evidence that certain items were owned as his sole and separate property you are free to open probate under intestacy and ask to be appointed representative of the estate. I suspect that you have no such documentation so you'll probably be wasting your time.
With regard to automobiles, if both their names appeared on the title then the autos became hers when he died and she is free to sell them.
If you wanted things to remember your dad by or had personal belongings in his home you should have arranged to get them while he was alive. Or, he should have made a will specifying any items that you should have gotten. Because he didn't, a court will likely rule that he had something else in mind and was content to have everything go to his wife.
Understand that she has the right to sell or dispose of anything that belongs to her and you have no say in the matter.
I'm sure you don't like what I'm saying. Stepchildren never like it when the bio parent dies and the step parent gets everything. It's a very common scenario.
With regard to automobiles, if both their names appeared on the title then the autos became hers when he died and she is free to sell them.
If you wanted things to remember your dad by or had personal belongings in his home you should have arranged to get them while he was alive. Or, he should have made a will specifying any items that you should have gotten. Because he didn't, a court will likely rule that he had something else in mind and was content to have everything go to his wife.
Understand that she has the right to sell or dispose of anything that belongs to her and you have no say in the matter.
I'm sure you don't like what I'm saying. Stepchildren never like it when the bio parent dies and the step parent gets everything. It's a very common scenario.
I appreciate your straight forwardness, this is why I figured I’d try here for some advice before paying a lawyer if nothing would come of it anyway.
At least 1 of the vehicles was only in his name, quite possibly both. What type of evidence would be sufficient? Some of it was in his safe, like copies of birth certificates, old bonds (in our names) from when we were born etc. The other personal items are more like boxes of old family photos that she wasn’t part of and childhood items such as the rocking horse he was refinishing for his new granddaughter.
Unfortunately his death came without any warning, so we never discussed taking things to remember him by, he was only 60 and in good health. He was at my house the morning he passed, was doing great, went home and passed away. He’d been storing our items because he had a home with extra basement space and my sister and I are both in small apartments without storage.
At least 1 of the vehicles was only in his name, quite possibly both. What type of evidence would be sufficient? Some of it was in his safe, like copies of birth certificates, old bonds (in our names) from when we were born etc. The other personal items are more like boxes of old family photos that she wasn’t part of and childhood items such as the rocking horse he was refinishing for his new granddaughter.
Unfortunately his death came without any warning, so we never discussed taking things to remember him by, he was only 60 and in good health. He was at my house the morning he passed, was doing great, went home and passed away. He’d been storing our items because he had a home with extra basement space and my sister and I are both in small apartments without storage.
adjusterjack
Senior Member
My condolences. My kid brother died 5 years ago at the age of 61. Not supposed to happen.
You'll need to open probate under intestacy. NJ has a small estate procedure through the Surrogate Court. You can go online for details. Each county has its own website. Once you get appointed representative of the estate, your papers will give you the authority to act on behalf of the estate.
With regard to the vehicles, that authority should enable you to get the DMV to release title information on cars with his name on it. Here's info from the DMV about inherited vehicles:
https://www.state.nj.us/mvc/vehicles/transowner.htm
Birth certificates can be replaced.
Old bonds in the names of you and your siblings can't be cashed without your signatures. You can get replacements from the US Treasury if they are US government bonds:
https://www.treasurydirect.gov/indiv/research/indepth/ebonds/res_e_bonds_eereplace.htm
Personal items like photos and the hobby horse, I'm afraid that you are at the mercy of the wife. Though with your court appointment you might be able to get a court order for the release of those items. I don't know how that works.
Or you might consider offering her cash in exchange for those items. Might be simpler and cheaper than court and lawyers.
You'll need to open probate under intestacy. NJ has a small estate procedure through the Surrogate Court. You can go online for details. Each county has its own website. Once you get appointed representative of the estate, your papers will give you the authority to act on behalf of the estate.
With regard to the vehicles, that authority should enable you to get the DMV to release title information on cars with his name on it. Here's info from the DMV about inherited vehicles:
https://www.state.nj.us/mvc/vehicles/transowner.htm
Birth certificates can be replaced.
Old bonds in the names of you and your siblings can't be cashed without your signatures. You can get replacements from the US Treasury if they are US government bonds:
https://www.treasurydirect.gov/indiv/research/indepth/ebonds/res_e_bonds_eereplace.htm
Personal items like photos and the hobby horse, I'm afraid that you are at the mercy of the wife. Though with your court appointment you might be able to get a court order for the release of those items. I don't know how that works.
Or you might consider offering her cash in exchange for those items. Might be simpler and cheaper than court and lawyers.
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