Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Alabama

I live in Jacksonville, Florida. My father and step Mom were married 36 years. When my father passed away in 1993, he left my step mom comfortably well off. I knew there were things my Dad had left me, but I was in no hurry because we lived in the same town at the time. My step mom was legally blind so my wife and I took care of her as much as we could by taking her places she needed to go, paying her bills, fixing things around the house and taking her with us to Church and to Sunday dinner. About 7 months after my father died, my step-mom met and married a nice man, Adam, whom we loved very much. He, like Dad, was also very good to her. He died from cancer a litttle over a year later. This left my stepmom, (Minnie) with a substantial amount more money from insurance policies. Then there was another man, Oliver Traweek, who lived in Alabama and again was contacted by a "friend" of Minnie's telling him now Adam had died, so he hurried to California so he could sweep her off her feet this time. He moved in with Minnie and wormed his way into her life and eventually talked her into signing everything over to him. A few years later when Minnie began to need constant care, he talked her into marrying him. and moved her to his house in Alabama away from all her family and friends. She sold the family home for over a quarter million dollars, and one could only guess where the money went. My sister and I received nothing when our Dad died. Oliver got her to pay off his house they were living by putting her name on the deed. My step mom died a little over a year ago. I was not called until after she passed. She was cremated before we could even think of plans to be there. She left a will with my sister's and my name in it stating we would get the remainder of the estate after Oliver had passed on. My wife saw the will. This man went through all her money, jewlrey, property, and my Dad's things in lightning amount of time. Thehouse on the lake, the boat, car, and property in Alabama was to be left to my sister and I.

We received a call from Oliver's brother, Arnold, about 3 weeks ago that Oliver had died. When I asked him to contact me when the will was to be probated, he informed me that Oliver had quitclaimed deed the property over to him just before he died.

I'm sorry that this is so long, but I felt it needed to be explained. Neither, myself nor my sister have the money to travel to Alabama to investigate what is really going on. My sister lives in Texas and I live in Florida. I am permanently disabled and have a morphine pump implant. I have a real bad feeling that someone is trying to get around legalities and again screw my sister and I out of what should have been ours when the family home was sold. (A family member also works at the county record's office in the same town the property is at). Please help my sister and I by leading us in the right direction as to what we need to do. My wife and I are God fearing Christians, I am a two time Vietnam war vet, 65 years old and can't get around like I could when I was 20 years younger otherwise I would chalk it up again. This makes 3 times now that we lost was was suppose to be our inheritence. My real Mom died when I was 4 and my sister and I were screwed out of 1/3 of a million dollars by her 2 sisters. Please help us.

Rick


Asked on 9/23/09, 11:30 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

These situations are very hard to pursue unless a person is willing to invest a lot of time and money, and even then, I doubt anyone would give you a high probability of success. I wish I could be more encouraging.

William G. Nolan

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Answered on 9/29/09, 10:47 am


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