Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Kentucky
no will & 1 dies after the parents death
my father-in-law died on 7-20-03. my mother-in-law died on 8-2-03. there was no will but they had insurance and a house that was paid for. my husband diedon 4-19-04. after his death, my sister-in-law went to live in ga with her husband of 2 years. i was married to my husband for 25 years. my husband and i were both disabled at the time of his death and neither of us had life insurance. so i am still paying for his funeral and his headstone.i also have a brother-in-law that is in prison. he has been there for 11 years and still has 1 or 2 years to go. in june when she went to ga.they had not decieded what to do with the house. in july she said she was going to sell the house because it is in bad shape and none of us had the money to fix it up to living standards. do i as my husbands wife have any right to one third of the insurance and one third of the property sale.she will not give me anything from either one. although the house is not livable but the property is worth quite a bit. i think she should have to give me at least the money to pay for his funeral and the headstone so we can at least be able to see his grave, because they will not put up the stone till it is paid for. am i as his legal wife entitled to his share.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: no will & 1 dies after the parents death
In a nutshell these are the basics: (1) Insurance-your father and mother in law's insurance will go to the beneficiary disignated on the policy. This could be anyone but I would suspect that your father in law's insurance would go to your mother in law and your mother in law's insurance would go to your father in law. There may be another person named in the policy in case the beneficiary is deceased at the time. If there was no beneficiary, then the insurance normally goes to the estate.
(2) Real estate - at this point with both the father and mother in law being deceased, the real estate (with no will) would descend to your husband and his brothers and sisters. Your husband's share would go however he fixed his estate. If your husband had a will, then it goes however he provided in the will. If he did not have a will, then you would receive at least 1/2 of his interest in his parents real estate and the other half would go to your and your husband's children. You need to consult a local attorney to check these things out. It appears that you have a property interest unless your sister-in-law was given the property in some fashion prior to the father and mother in law's deaths. Speak to an attorney in your town about this. In most cases, an inquiry will not incur a fee. There are a lot of varibles but you need some help here.
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