Q: what are my rights to protect my kids, myself, my home from being harassed by my fiancées ex-wife and his mother?
My fiancée passed away Dec 1st. It was all over the news. Not even 12 hours of his death and his ex-wife, his mother and sister started threatening and harassing me. They are threatening to break into my home for his belongings so they can sell it and make a profit. They sure act like this man was a millionaire but had nothing. I pretty much paid for this house, the bills and even took care of him financially when he didn’t have a job. He wrecked his truck and motorcycle and are both totaled. He was supposed to get two settlements for the accident. Since he passed his ex-wife is fighting for that so it goes to her son. His mother is also wanting to use his death to as an excuse to sue people for money. My biggest concern is, my fiancée and I built a foundation here, no one helped him. I did. Now they want what I paid for. Also, weapons that he own, they are fighting me for. He was a medic for 17 years in this community. I just want them to let me grieve and leave me and kids alone.
A:
I am truly sorry for your loss. What you are going through is tragic, and it is a terrible example of failure to plan, because I have to assume that your fiancee' did not have a will. If he had a will, it would have named you to receive everything if he died, of course, and nobody would be pestering you. Without a will and no surviving spouse, however, everything does indeed go to his children (some of which might be children with you?). That is why they are pestering your for property that now belongs to his son.
The only suggestion I can make at this point is for you to politely state that you will comply with orders from the probate court and in the meantime they need to stop calling you. That will give you some time because the probate process does take time. Just be sure that in the meantime you do not "disappear" any property because that could get you in big trouble.
If you had children with your fiancee', give some thought to opening the probate yourself. Click "Find a Lawyer" above and look for a probate attorney in your area.
If you did not have children with him and you want to monitor the progress of the probate case, keep checking with the local probate court to see if a case has been opened. Then file a request to be notified of developments. A probate attorney can help you with that as well, or the court staff might be willing to help (or not, some do and some don't).
Everyone needs a will, at a bare minimum. If you don't have one, make an appointment with an estate planning attorney in your area today.
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