Does this young son have a case?

Mark Bitara

New Member
Jurisdiction
Texas
Boy was 17 when his dad was killed in a vehicular accident. The deceased had listed the boy's grandparents as beneficiaries.

Grandparents bought a home using the deceased's life insurance and workplace death benefit monies to buy the teen a house to live, with his mom (deceased's exwife).

Grandparents unexpectedly passed away, leaving no documents to show that the boy was the heir to his dad's finances (life insurance, workplace benefits, and settlements from 2 car insurance companies).

In the absence of such document showing the boy is the heir/beneficiary, an aunt claims she is the heir when the boy's grandparents died. Aunt forced the boy (and his mom) to leave the house. She took possession of the house.

Does this boy, now an adult, have a case to gain ownership of the house?
 
I'll make a few presumptions here. You can correct me if I am wrong.

The grandparents bought the house and they were both on the deed as joint owners with right of survivorship.

They died without a will (intestate). Their son pre-deceased them. If the daughter (the boy's aunt) was their only remaining child she would be heir to the house.

The boy and his Mom were just tenants in a house owned by the boy's deceased grandparents. As such, he has no case for ownership.

Different details may lead to different conclusions so it would be wise for the boy to have an attorney review all of the details and advise him accordingly.
 
They died without a will (intestate). Their son pre-deceased them. If the daughter (the boy's aunt) was their only remaining child she would be heir to the house.

The son who predeceased them died with issue - the grandson in question. The grandson was the product of a marriage, so legally recognized. Don't the child's share go evenly to all legally recognized issue?

However, I take this who thread as the premise for a bad novel. I know that Texas is unusual, but who goes to the bother of writing a will that leaves NO provision for the care of their MINOR child?! I could understand having it put in a trust, managed by someone other than your ex, but that is not what is alleged here.

But the whole story, real or fiction, is probably ancient history.
 
I'm curious who you are in relation to this situation.

Boy was 17 when his dad was killed in a vehicular accident.

When did this accident occur?

The deceased had listed the boy's grandparents as beneficiaries.

Beneficiaries of what? Based on the first sentence of the following paragraph, I assume you're talking about a life insurance policy and maybe also some sort of employment pension plan, but one can be a beneficiary of any number of things.

Grandparents unexpectedly passed away

When did this occur?

leaving no documents to show that the boy was the heir to his dad's finances (life insurance, workplace benefits, and settlements from 2 car insurance companies).

Not really sure what this means. If the boy's grandparents received money from a life insurance policy, that was their money -- no different than any other money they had (unless they received this money as trustees for the boy's benefit). Upon the death of the first of the two grandparents, the survivor would likely inherit the entire estate (although that's not a certainty). Upon the death of the second of them, if there was no will or trust, then the estate (after payment of debt) would pass according to the applicable intestate succession law (i.e., the law that says who gets what when someone dies without a will).

an aunt claims she is the heir when the boy's grandparents died.

Well...assuming this aunt was a daughter of the deceased grandparents, it would be very likely that she would be an heir (along with the boy) of her surviving parent's estate. Was this "claim" ever adjudicated by a court?

Aunt forced the boy (and his mom) to leave the house.

When did this occur? How did she "force" them out?

Does this boy, now an adult, have a case to gain ownership of the house?

Unlikely. However, you haven't given us a lot of information that would be needed even to make an educated guess about this. In addition to answering the questions I asked above, please tell us how the house was titled when the grandparents bought it.
 
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