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Wife's deadbeat brother being dishonest about sibling's inheritance

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jonwb
New Member

Wife's deadbeat brother being dishonest about sibling's inheritance

First off, I want the forum to realize this is about fairness, not greed.  Death is a terrible event and my wife has suffered tremendously over the past 3 months.  However, life continues and the deceased would want her assets divided equally among her children...

 

My wife's mother died in February.  She was only in her sixties.  We drove out of state to the funeral and stayed 3 days before returning home.  Some time after, my wife received $20,000 from the brother as part of her inheritance.  Problem is, there are more assets.. there have to be. We found evidence of a JC Penney life insurance policy and possible one other bank account while there.  When questioned about it, the brother gets angry and changes the subject pointing to himself as the victim for having lived with her and witnessing her death.  He's 47 and living with Mom... does that tell you anything?  Thank goodness she leased her house!

 

In my view, the $20,000 was a payoff for the rest of the siblings to get lost... and her life insurance should've been settled by now if a claim was put in.  My wife's name definitely would be listed as a beneficiary.  Unfortunately, JCP Life was taken over by TransAmerica and they don't have a record of it.  What should we be doing now?  We want to avoid be scammed by some unscrupulous lawyer or search site.

 

Thanks for any advice

 

 

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JM-AM
Valued Contributor

Re: Wife's deadbeat brother being dishonest about sibling's inheritance


@jonwb wrote:

First off, I want the forum to realize this is about fairness, not greed.  Death is a terrible event and my wife has suffered tremendously over the past 3 months.  However, life continues and the deceased would want her assets divided equally among her children...

 

My wife's mother died in February.  She was only in her sixties.  We drove out of state to the funeral and stayed 3 days before returning home.  Some time after, my wife received $20,000 from the brother as part of her inheritance.  Problem is, there are more assets.. there have to be. We found evidence of a JC Penney life insurance policy and possible one other bank account while there.  When questioned about it, the brother gets angry and changes the subject pointing to himself as the victim for having lived with her and witnessing her death.  He's 47 and living with Mom... does that tell you anything?  Thank goodness she leased her house!

 

In my view, the $20,000 was a payoff for the rest of the siblings to get lost... and her life insurance should've been settled by now if a claim was put in.  My wife's name definitely would be listed as a beneficiary.  Unfortunately, JCP Life was taken over by TransAmerica and they don't have a record of it.  What should we be doing now?  We want to avoid be scammed by some unscrupulous lawyer or search site.

 

Thanks for any advice

 

 



No matter who takes over a policy all paperwork would be transfered over to the new owners of the policy. For them to say they have no record of it the possibilities of the policy being canceled, sold off early, etc etc would come more into play.

 

Research it completely, find any proof you have that the policy exist or did exist. Then you would have to search even further and see what happened with the policy.

 

If she has a will I am sure you will be going to probate if she is listed as a beneficiary. IMO I also would not cash and or deposit the check until you know all the facts just in case their is some type of act that keeps you from obtaining anything else left to you in the will if you have accepted and cashed said check.

 

 

Good Luck
May all your dreams and wishes become a reality!
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