Wifes Family turning evil in Jealous envy. Should I be concerned.

[Joe55]

My wife recently lost a cousin through death.
On the day of the Funeral, a letter to my wife from a bank notified her of a policy left to her stating that she is a beneficiary for this particular policy.
She, through mourning decided to keep the news quiet and proceed with the claim so she can help other family members as a surprise.
Some family knew (not sure how) and called her to ask the info.
As the family knew they demanded it be signed over to "more applicable" family and began to get angry / jelous.
They are constantly calling asking for the money and saying they need it to pay for the Funeral and the deceased car loan. (money is not in hand yet).
THey also just called to say they are suing her / us for "my" house because she is not volunteering at this point any information / agreements to help other members of the family.
Idle threats I am sure, however I am concerned.
Besides second guessing the family I married into, do I need to make any legal preparations, be concerned etc. Or, disregard these threats. I would like for my wife to stop being harrased and also to be able to offer her good advice.
Thank you.

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

My wife recently lost a cousin through death.
On the day of the Funeral, a letter to my wife from a bank notified her of a policy left to her stating that she is a beneficiary for this particular policy.
She, through mourning decided to keep the news quiet and proceed with the claim so she can help other family members as a surprise.
Some family knew (not sure how) and called her to ask the info.
As the family knew they demanded it be signed over to "more applicable" family and began to get angry / jelous.
They are constantly calling asking for the money and saying they need it to pay for the Funeral and the deceased car loan. (money is not in hand yet).
THey also just called to say they are suing her / us for "my" house because she is not volunteering at this point any information / agreements to help other members of the family.
Idle threats I am sure, however I am concerned.
Besides second guessing the family I married into, do I need to make any legal preparations, be concerned etc. Or, disregard these threats. I would like for my wife to stop being harrased and also to be able to offer her good advice.
Thank you.

My response:

From your description, you nor your wife have anything to be concerned about over this matter. The money is hers, and hers alone.

You're right - - "Idle threats."

IAAL

 

[Joe55]

Thank you IAAL.

We have seen no Will or other documents that (as we are being told by the jelous family) state that this policy was / is to be used for certain items only. (Obviously items that benefit them not my wife).
There is also nothing in the policy documents stating that there are ANY contingencies on the allocation of funds.

Do we need to look for any will / testimony that could state this is being implied or just accept the fact that besides this family POSSIBLY ending up with a harrasment suit on their hands from me there is no reason to act.

Thanks again.

Joe.

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

Thank you IAAL.

We have seen no Will or other documents that (as we are being told by the jelous family) state that this policy was / is to be used for certain items only. (Obviously items that benefit them not my wife).
There is also nothing in the policy documents stating that there are ANY contingencies on the allocation of funds.

Do we need to look for any will / testimony that could state this is being implied or just accept the fact that besides this family POSSIBLY ending up with a harrasment suit on their hands from me there is no reason to act.

Thanks again.

Joe.

My response:

First, your wife doesn't have to "look for any will". Since they are the ones making the claim, it's up to the family to prove their claims in a court of law.

Second, even if there was a Will discussing this situation; e.g., how the proceeds should be split up, it wouldn't have any force or effect. You see, unless there are "beneficiary contingencies" in the Insurance Policy itself specifying how the money is to be spent, then the insurance procedes "by-pass" the Will, and by-pass Probate. In other words, the insurance money goes directly to your wife without need of a probate judge telling your wife how to spend her money. The insurance money NEVER becomes a part of the decedent's estate!

Just hang up on their telephone calls, and don't bother with them.

IAAL

 

[Dandy Don]

Did this cousin leave a wife and children?

How much did your wife receive and how much are the funeral expenses?

The threats are idle (and they have no legal grounds for a lawsuit--but don't let them know that you know this), but please understand that this family may be going through pain and grief and uncertainty about their financial future. There may not be enough assets left in the estate to pay these outstanding debts and may have been counting on the insurance policy to take care of these items.

First, check at the county courthouse to see if the will has been filed yet--if it has been, you can get a copy of it. If it hasn't been, then ask the family if your wife has been named as a beneficiary in the will (and if she has been named, ask them to send you a copy of the will), and also discreetly inquire if there are enough assets in the estate to take care of the funeral home bill and the car debt.

If there are virtually no estate assets, then it would be the kind thing for your wife to offer to pay half or all of the funeral bill, although I do agree that the family has been a bit mean in the way they are going about harrassing you all for money.

If you think there are enough of other assets in the estate to be able to pay off the debts, then it is your decision as to whether or not you want to offer to help with the debts.

 

[Joe55]

Thanks Don.

I agree with your logic entirely. My Wife planned from the minute she heard the knews to do nothing but help other remaining family members where possible.
The policy ammount is in the 20K range. Nothing enormous and makes hard for sensible divisions.

The Family I am sure are suffering and I understand. Several key members of the Family (the major ones harrasing) are more than prepared financially to pay the debts / funeral costs.

I think my Wife will still pay some family members, unfortunatley, the ones that hurt her this time by alienating her, slandering her and idle threats of law suits have tainted the whole issue beyond belief.

Originally it was also understood that one Uncle (the wealthy one) intended to file a ficticious claim on behalf of my wife and never let her know anything existed. Several people were more than upset once they realized that the mail actually ended up with the correct person.
Same Uncle also has been "idly" accused of holding any will / other assetts of the deceased in complete secret from many people.

I myself have money enough to be little concerned of this policy however can not believe the attitude of people when this situation arises.

My wife asked several times for a list of funeral costs and to who she could pay back, nothing has surfaced except for a few uncles wanting a few hundred dollars for their travel expenses !

If she pays of the car - who then owns the car ?

Joe -

 

[Dandy Don]

Greed is surely bringing out the worst in these people.

It looks like the estate can well afford to pay off the funeral debt and the car loan. The next time anyone asks you all for payment, you should say that you are only interested in speaking with the executor of the estate. The executor will have the information about the funeral bill (or you could look up the obituary notice in the newspaper and find out the name of the funeral home that way), and it is also the executor you should ask about who owns the car after it is paid off.

Executor should be able to provide you with a copy of the funeral bill. His withholding of the will is possibly illegal and certainly very improper.

If I were you I wouldn't pay this family anything until you have looked at a copy of the will or gotten some idea of what other assets this estate has. Looks like they are trying to take advantage of your niceness or your financial capability to let YOU pay for things that the estate should be taking care of.

 

[Joe55]

Don - Thanks-

I have heard 2 recent issues concerning the will.
Both hard to validate and also not good.

1 - That there is no will. The Uncle in Question was apparently appointed "the man" because of his successfull position in life. The uncle in question apparently is handling all estate items.

2 - A will is or just was "Manufactured" after the fact by said "Man".

3 - Don't all items not in a will enter probate ?

4 - How would I know what was Manufactured versus intended by the deceased ?

PS. I talked to the "Man" over the weekend to confront his idle threats and let him know he was out of line. His response was that the beneficiary should have been him because he is the man appointed and that although he admited the threats and the idleness behind them - he was certainly not going to lye down if my Wife did not pay up. He said he would sue her just because he could and he knows it would break her sooner or later.

 

[HomeGuru]

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[Joe55]

Didn't quite catch that.........