Q: Why would an estate be divided between 1 living and 3 deceased siblings?
Uncle dies, never married, no children, had 4 sisters with children. One sibling, my mother, is the only living next of kin (91yrs) but the 3 sisters, that are deceased, have some living children- being my uncle's nieces and nephews. His lawyer is going to divide his estate by the 4 sisters, the one living sister and the three deceased sisters to then be awarded to their living children. If they were going to award dead relatives, why wouldn't they award it to my grandparents with my mother being their only living child, wouldn't that be the same principle? ALso, when talking to his lawyer a few months ago, my mom heard "about $60,000", not a lot of money (uncle was 81) but now it's "about $23,000"....sounds a little shady to me. Supposedly he did not have a will (?) and the case has been in probate(?) and scheduled to be settled next week.
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A: Unfortunately no, it would not all go to the living sibling. The division of the estate between the living sibling and the descendants of the three deceased siblings is the correct distribution under Rhode Island law. As for the amount of money in the estate and how much is left, you can find out from the case file. The probate court has the file and it is public. You can go to the probate court and request to look at it. You can also request to make a copy of it.
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