- Jurisdiction
- Illinois
My father passed away about 1.5 years ago without a will. His 2nd wife, whose name is not on the estate, went through my deceased father's possessions and sold off or threw away most of what he had before my sister and I (from his first wife and his only offspring) were even told he had passed. The 2nd wife messaged my mother saying she (2nd wife) found the social security cards and birth certificate of my sister and I, and for $1,000, my mother could have them back. She messaged this through facebook messenger and I have screenshots.
We have not had any contact with her before this, nor after & we still have not gotten our SS or certificates back.
We talked to a real estate lawyer that my mother had used before and he repeatedly told my sister and I that we would get 50% of the equity and the 2nd wife gets 50%.
This would have been acceptable. During our initial talk with the lawyer, we told him we did not have the time or money to fight over the house, if she agrees to 50%, then so do we. He told us she wouldn't be able to do anything with the house without the signature of my sister and I. So we figured if she was going to fight for more, we wouldn't sign anything.
What our lawyer failed to tell my sister and I, was the spousal award statute. If we had known the 2nd would get 20k minimum, we wouldn't have signed anything. I view this as willful deceit by our lawyer, who did not mention this, or even as a possibility. If we knew, we wouldn't have signed anything, and we wouldn't have needed to hire that lawyer. So it seems he withheld that info to convince use to hire him, so he could get a quick, easy payday.
Equity was 30k. After burial and other claims, the remaining amount was just under 20k. Which is now going to the 2nd wife as spousal award and my sister and I get $0. Not only $0, but we are -$1,500 under for paying our lying lawyer in the first place.
I'm at a loss with this situation.
Is there something to be done about the 2nd wife trying to extort money from my mom via the SS cards and birth certificate of my sister and I?
Is there any way to salvage or get the 50% equity that our lawyer practically garunteed us? It is set to close the later part of this year.
Is there anything about my current lawyer lying/withholding critical decision making info to persuade us into hiring him for a quick payday?
50% of the equity would have been just under 10k for my sister and I, which her and I would then split. It may not be much to some but would be a great help to us.
Additional info if it helps, State: Illinois. My sister and I are his only kids and from his first marriage. He had only been married to that 2nd wife for 1-2 years. He passed from covid during the pandemic.
He also had a gun collection and the 2nd wife doesn't seem like the type to handle the disposal/registration properly, leaving me to wonder what she did with them.
Any info, suggestions, or advice you could give would be greatly appreciated.
Also, I apologize and thank you for the time taken to read all of this.
We have not had any contact with her before this, nor after & we still have not gotten our SS or certificates back.
We talked to a real estate lawyer that my mother had used before and he repeatedly told my sister and I that we would get 50% of the equity and the 2nd wife gets 50%.
This would have been acceptable. During our initial talk with the lawyer, we told him we did not have the time or money to fight over the house, if she agrees to 50%, then so do we. He told us she wouldn't be able to do anything with the house without the signature of my sister and I. So we figured if she was going to fight for more, we wouldn't sign anything.
What our lawyer failed to tell my sister and I, was the spousal award statute. If we had known the 2nd would get 20k minimum, we wouldn't have signed anything. I view this as willful deceit by our lawyer, who did not mention this, or even as a possibility. If we knew, we wouldn't have signed anything, and we wouldn't have needed to hire that lawyer. So it seems he withheld that info to convince use to hire him, so he could get a quick, easy payday.
Equity was 30k. After burial and other claims, the remaining amount was just under 20k. Which is now going to the 2nd wife as spousal award and my sister and I get $0. Not only $0, but we are -$1,500 under for paying our lying lawyer in the first place.
I'm at a loss with this situation.
Is there something to be done about the 2nd wife trying to extort money from my mom via the SS cards and birth certificate of my sister and I?
Is there any way to salvage or get the 50% equity that our lawyer practically garunteed us? It is set to close the later part of this year.
Is there anything about my current lawyer lying/withholding critical decision making info to persuade us into hiring him for a quick payday?
50% of the equity would have been just under 10k for my sister and I, which her and I would then split. It may not be much to some but would be a great help to us.
Additional info if it helps, State: Illinois. My sister and I are his only kids and from his first marriage. He had only been married to that 2nd wife for 1-2 years. He passed from covid during the pandemic.
He also had a gun collection and the 2nd wife doesn't seem like the type to handle the disposal/registration properly, leaving me to wonder what she did with them.
Any info, suggestions, or advice you could give would be greatly appreciated.
Also, I apologize and thank you for the time taken to read all of this.
