My nephew’s father (divorced from his mother when he was a baby) died in the spring of 2014. The widow told the funeral attendees there was no will. The father had inherited hundreds of mineral interests from his mother who inherited it from her father who was one of the active participants in the discovery of the largest (to date) onshore oil and gas field in the lower 48.
When my ex-brother in law remarried, he gave his new wife some of these mineral rights, and he had sold some previously, but he still had some left. So practically before he was cold, a landman contacted my nephew with a lease to sign, and the widow was sending him documents trying to get him to sign over his interest in the homestead (owned in the father’s name solely). I told him I would help find him an attorney.
My nephew was appointed “temporary” administrator and I filed Affidavits of Heirship in all the counties where there were mineral interests and was able to transfer the proper ownership to my nephew as soon as practical, but the widow absconded with a lot of the money that should have come in to the estate. We served her with requests for production for bank statements and tax returns. She complied, and I noticed on the tax returns, she claimed income from property in Arkansas. We asked about this, and was told that that was a mistake, that property was in a trust and the trust should have been paying those taxes. I asked our attorney, “Who has a trust but not a will”? So we inquired about that and sure enough, at the next hearing, the widow producd a copy of a will leaving all to her, 6 months after the judgement of heirship had been handed down. There is a hearing on the probate of the will next week but I think (since there’s only one probate judge in this county) he’s going to rule that he’s already ruled in favor of my nephew.
Meanwhile the widow has herself died. My nephew had not been paying taxes or insurance on the homestead as that was still the widow’s responsibility but no one has been doing it. If it becomes his, it may be there are late fees and problems with those issues. What a nightmare. Her daughter has not filed probate on her estate, so the house is completely in limbo.
disgruntledheir 