Q: Can a child contest a wife's next of kin status if she hasn't spoken to the deceased person in 5+ years?
My brother's father recently passed away. He had 4 children, 3 biological & 1 adopted, my brother being the youngest. None of the children had spoken to him in years due to drug & alcohol abuse. When he passed away, his body sat for a week because only his sister & his youngest son (my brother) stepped forward to handle anything. My brother paid for his father's cremation by himself out of his pocket. There was no will & no insurance. The sister told my brother his father had a car & my brother decided he would like to have it so he had something of his father's. After news got around that my brother had paid for the service, now the woman his father lived with for the last 5 years but wasn't married to is saying she paid half for the car and wants it, though her name is not on the title. Now a woman he was married to but has not spoken to in over 5 years has showed up and wants his car, the money in his bank account, basically everything. Is there anyway for my brother to contest i?
A: If there was a will, it controls. If no will, distribution pursuant to the laws of the state for intestacy.
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