adult childrens rights
our father passed away in 2004. he was to come into alot of money from an asbestos settlement and told us we would all be getting some of this money. my step-mother said he was senile and there was no settlement and he had nothing to leave. she has not contacted us since and will not answer our calls after telling all of us that we would be able to get the senimental items in the house left by not only our father but also our deceased mother. her son called my brother last week after fighting with his mother and told us that our father did have a hugh settlement and she was to receive the last payment this year and it is a very large amount. they reside in virginia. can you please help us?
Answer
Re: adult childrens rights
You or your brother or other sibling should contact the probate court in the city or county in Virginia where your father died and ask to check the probate records to see if an administrator was ever appointed by the court for your father's estate(assuming there was no will) and whether such an estate was actually opened.
If not, then one of you should apply to the court to be appointed administrator of the estate who will then have the necessary legal authority to confront your stepmother
as to what has happened to your father's property and you should then be in a position to begin taking the steps necessary to retrieve at least
some of it for your father's rightful beneficiaries (other than the stepmother), which should include you as well as your siblings.
Note: Under Virginia's law of intestate inheritance(meaning no will)
a surviving spouse of the deceased such
as your stepmother, is entitled to inherit no more than one third of the decedent's estate while the surviving
offspring of the decedent are entitled to two thirds of such an estate.
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