Toledo, OH asked in Probate and Estate Planning for Ohio

Q: Ok my mom died almost two years ago from liver cancer. When she died her husband kept everything including her ashes.

He just passed away and his sons won't let my brother, family, or my self have my mom's stuff. How can I get my mom's belongings. Again we have nothing of hers, his son said he was selling stuff including my mom's jeep to get his money back for paying on his dad's funeral. Please help me get her stuff for me. When I asked his sons for my mom's stuff he did he has to go through everything first. I thinking we both should go through it together if that's the case but he won't let me. My mom and Jim paid rent so everything needs to be or by the first of January and by then I don't think my family and I will see anything of my mom's. Plus neither my mom or her husband had a will.

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1 Lawyer Answer

A: If she died without a will, then her property would have passed according to Ohio law. The first $20,000 of any of her property would go to her spouse, plus one-third of the rest to her spouse, and the remaining two-thirds would be split between her own children - you and your brother and any other siblings. If no probate estate was opened for your mother when she passed, you could open an estate now, but that takes some time, and her belongings could disappear by then, if they haven't already been sold. Her family mementos might be gone. Use the Find a Lawyer tab to retain a local probate attorney to communicate to your step-father's sons and advise them about wrongfully distributing any of her property, but it might be too late to get much back.

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