Legal Question in Family Law in Illinois

I left my children with their father and have learned that he's died. I left them with him because at the time he was the one who owned a house and had a more stable income and I wasn't about to stick around as he and his pregnant girlfriend made me miserable (as I was living in the same house, for that matter). My children are 15 and 13, and I gave him custody of the eldest when we divorced several years before but he was never given formal custody of the younger. I never gave up my parental rights. I now live outside of the country and learned that he gave guardianship to his sister in his will (not because he thinks she is the best for them, but because he wishes to punish me even in death for breaking free of him and not allowing him to control me). I wasn't contacted about his death and learned of it through my own family, after the fact because I have been offline for three months with financial troubles. I would like to take my children and am unaware of what my rights are in doing so. The sister that my children are now with has a criminal history of theft and drug abuse, past and current and has served time in prison for this. My sources near that family inform me that this is still the case and my children are now living in the middle of it. Since I'm outside of the country, I'd like to know if I can have my mother go and get them for me or if I must go there myself. I'd like to know if his sister can attempt to fight me for the children, she has an interest in keeping them because of monthly survivors benefits checks, but is unlikely to put much money towards actually fighting to keep them. I haven't been able to have contact with my children for six years because my ex-husband wouldn't allow them to speak to me and I'm not the kind to drag anyone through court because I suffer from agoraphobia with panic attacks. I tried many times to contact him and them, but he was always a control freak and would tell me that they weren't available or would fight with me until I would just get frustrated and give up. I've waited patiently for years to have the opportunity to finally have them with me. He took my money every month for them and took advantage of the fact that I didn't want to subject my children to the same trauma I had as a child when my parents dragged my brother and I through the court system. Now that they are out from under his thumb they've turned up online and I've initiated contact, but I'd still like to know what my legal rights are.

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