My brother has been deceased for 3 years and ever since we have had a hard time getting to see his son. His ex wife lets us when its convenient for her, when she wants to go out clubbing. Also she is remarried and her husband is in the military and abusive to her, and does not like my nephew at all. My 8 year old nephew has told us of the step father hitting him, locking him in the bedroom all day and just recently hitting him with a screw driver because he splashed water out of the tub. We called the police and dss and they came out, took pictures and talked to my nephew.. they said he would be assigned a case worker and she would contact us in the morning. Well she never called and the next thing we know the mother was allowed to come and get her son. Do we have any legal rights to visitation or to fight for custody of him. I find it hard to believe that just because my brother is dead that his family has no rights. We are talking about a 8 year old boy who has suffered more then most adults losing a parent, its in the best interest of the child that he shares equall part with both family. Please help.. . we live in North Carolina.

<moved to Family Law>

I don't know about NC, but in California you can have visitation with the child of a deceased relative. It's called (loosely) close relative visitation.

I've handled a case like this before.