- Jurisdiction
- Michigan
Not sure if this is the right place to ask this....but here goes. My brother-in-law just passed away. Single (divorced) with 2 kids in their 20s. He ran a small printing services business (as a sole proprietorship), approx $60k/yr income, no employees. No will, so everything's now in probate. The question is about the business he leaves. He built up his client list over the years, and that's about all that's left of the business. His girlfriend found his client list after his death and decided to continue to run the business herself, but under a different name. Since the rest of his estate is of little value (sub $30k), I'd like to see his kids get some $$ from this girlfriend for "taking over his business for free" (basically profiting from his death). Has this girlfriend broken any laws? Is there any legal way to force the girlfriend to pay the kids something for his client list? Is the remains of his business (the client list) part of the probate process? I want nothing more than to help the kids, since they have very little.
Thanks
Thanks