Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Pennsylvania

You need to open an estate and be appointed administrator of the estate to do all that.

{John}

You need to petition the court to become the administrator of the estate and apply for leters of administration. Once that is done, absolutely - you have the right to inventory assets and so forth. Do not let the companion start disposing of property. The companion can take property which is hers, but not your father's things. This is not marital since she was a companion.

This is going to be difficult - by the way things are shaping up between the children and the companion. My advice would be for you, if you wish to be administrator, to go and see a probate attorney who practices in the county/state where your father ressided prior to his death and get the ball rolling now and get a restraining order, if need be, to prohibit the companion from taking assets out of the residence.