Hi everyone, sit back because this is a lengthy tale even though I can't possibly write everything that has been going on, otherwise it will turn into a book. I will summarize as much as possible and be as fair as I can.

First off, I live in Alberta, Canada. My mother-in-law passed away in March 2007. She made her daughter the executor of her will. My husband is seventeen years younger than his sister, they are the only children. When my mother-in-law was alive she told me that when she passed on the house would be sold and the money would be divided in half. Half to my husband and me and our two children, and half to his sister that was unmarried until November 2007 (after my mother-in-law passed) P.S. MIL will stand for mother-in-law for the rest of this post.

My MIL trusted her oldest child to be fair and make sure that everything was divided up equally, I had doubts from the start because of past experiences that my husband and I have had with his sister. I won't go into detail, but she has tried to "screw" us out of money in the past.

After my MIL passed away there was no official reading of the will, my husbands sister called my husband a few weeks after my MIL's death to discuss the will over lunch. When he came back from lunch (to which I was not invited) he was very upset. My sister-in-law stated that her mother had transferred all of her property etc. into my Sister-in-laws (SIL) name before she passed to make it easier for her to sell etc. My SIL decided, along with her future husband, that they were going to re-model the house and sell it for a profit. She had the house appraised as-is and the appraiser informed her that the house was worth $320,000.00. She offered my husband $100,000.00 of that money(which is definitely not half), $40,000.00 right away and $60,000.00. As she sees fit. My husband said he'd have to talk to me about it. While at the luncheon he never actually got to see the will.

My husband is an apprentice machinist, he will be going for his second year of college in January 2008 for two months. In Canada if you have a permanent job as an apprentice and it is time to go to school to earn your certificate, you go on unemployment for the time that you are in school. The unemployment takes 6 weeks to kick in at 60% of you earnings. We cannot afford to live of that 60%, we also cannot afford to wait 6 weeks for the cheques to come in. My husband and I have been discussing what we were going to do for money for those two months, I suggested that he contact his sister and inform her that we would require $10,000.00 of our inheritance by January so that he could go to school (by the way, my SIL is very wealthy, owns her own home (no mortgage) owns two Ford Escalades (around $60,000.00 each) both paid for, her husband owns his own business etc.etc. needless to say she has allot of money and definitely would not be burdened by giving us $10,000.00 of our inheritance. My husband called her today, made idle chit-chat etc.etc. then nonchalantly asked her how the renovations on his mothers house were coming along (after all, it has been over 9 months). She said that things were going okay but that there were was still allot of work to be done. My husband then asked if it was at all possible to get $10,000.00 of our inheritance before the house sold, she said "Absolutely NOT!!!". He then asked if it would be possible for her to bring a copy of the will over to his cousins house on boxing day (where we all meet for a belated XMas celebration). She said that he could come over to her place to read the will but that he wouldn't get a copy. Then she also stated that she is the executor of the estate, but that everything was put into her name before my MIL passed, so essentially there is no estate, because legally everything belongs to her. I'm terrified that she is going to shaft us once again. Oh, by the way, her husband is worse than her, he's the kind of guy that would squish his own mother to get further ahead.

What I need to know is, do we have any legal recourse or are we totally screwed because my MIL trusted her daughter to be fair and put everything in her name. Will getting a copy of the will actually help us or is it a mute point. My husband is devastated, I'm more angry than anything. At this point, to me, it's not even about the money, I just don't want her to get away with this, it's not right. Please help, I'm at my wits end.

Have you gone to the courthouse to investigate if any will was filed, or whose name the property is in? It is probably in her name, but you may need to get legal representation very soon in order to fight this one out. There might be a time frame involved that you are in the dark about. I don't know much about Canadian Law, but is there a probate court where these things have to be handled? Do you have any way to prove if your mother would have been able to sign over the house... was she mentally competent or could it have been a trick on their part? I wish you well on this one, but would not say to trust her at all based on what you have said about her.

Have you gone to the courthouse to investigate if any will was filed, or whose name the property is in? It is probably in her name, but you may need to get legal representation very soon in order to fight this one out. There might be a time frame involved that you are in the dark about. I don't know much about Canadian Law, but is there a probate court where these things have to be handled? Do you have any way to prove if your mother would have been able to sign over the house...was she mentally competent or could it have been a trick on their part? I wish you well on this one, but would not say to trust her at all based on what you have said about her.

As far as I know their was no will filed (My MIL didn't think it was necessary because she trusted her daughter). I also know that because she signed over all her assets to my SIL the will will not have to got to probate, that is why she did this, in order to save time and money. Whether my MIL was mentally competent cannot be proven either way. I know that at least 75% of the time she was in total command of her brain but there were other times that she was not (mainly because of the medication and chemotherapy) and I'm not sure when she actually did all of this. My SIL was at the hospice everyday because she lived only 5 minutes away and was unmarried and is childless and at the time was not working. My husband works full time and split shift (2 weeks from 7:00am-4:30pm and 2 weeks 4:00pm to 1:00am) my son was in school and my daughter was only 4 years old, as well, we live a 30 minute drive from the hospice she was placed in. We could only visit 2 or 3 times a week, God only knows what my SIL was doing with her mother while she was there. You are right, I wouldn't trust her as far as I can throw her ( and boy would I like to throw her LOL) but I think that everything she's told us is legit. Thank you for your well wishes, goodness know I need them right now.

As far as I know their was no will filed (My MIL didn't think it was necessary because she trusted her daughter). I also know that because she signed over all her assets to my SIL the will will not have to got to probate, that is why she did this, in order to save time and money. Whether or not my MIL was mentally competent cannot be proven either way. I know that at least 75% of the time she was in total command of her brain but there were other times that she was not (mainly because of the medication and chemotherapy) and I'm not sure when she actually did all of this. My SIL was at the hospice everyday because she lived only 5 minutes away and was unmarried and is childless and at the time was not working. My husband works full time and split shift (2 weeks from 7:00am-4:30pm and 2 weeks 4:00pm to 1:00am) my son was in school and my daughter was only 4 years old, as well, we live a 30 minute drive from the hospice she was placed in. We could only visit 2 or 3 times a week, God only knows what my SIL was doing with her mother while she was there. You are right, I wouldn't trust her as far as I can throw her ( and boy would I like to throw her LOL) but I think that everything she's told us is legit. Thank you for your well wishes, goodness know I need them right now.


I think you should see if there is a will - and it looks like there was not. I do not know Canadian law but a fight to prove undue influence or incompetence on the part of the deceased is a complicated, expensive process - and I'm not sure (from what you say) that you can afford it. Basically no one is entitled to take from an estate and if your MIL wrongly trusted your SIL your hands might be tied because, as I said, you are not "entitled." Sounds like everything was transferred to avoid probate and taxes and, if so, it belongs to your SIL and perhaps any offer she makes to you is the best she intends to make.

Unfortunately what she has or does not have by way of property, income and cars and what you have or do not have (also property, income, cars) has no bearing on any of this. If you take it to Court "need" will have nothing to do with the outcome.

According to you, there is a will, but that there is nothing in the estate because it was all transferred prior your MIL dying. IF there is a will, you have a good chance here. Especially if the will specifically states that the house was to be divided.

You said; "She said that he could come over to her place to read the will but that he wouldn't get a copy." Have him definitely do that. You need to know what the will said. You also need to determine if the property WAS actually transferred to the SIL's name and when.

Once you have gotten that information post back and we can advise what your next step is.

Some possibilities. If the will states the house was to be divided, then even though it may have been transferred, the intention was clear. If the SIL was officially named executor she has a fiduciary responsibility. Your husband can force the will to be probated. He may be able to force the property to be changed over to both his and the SIL's name at which point he can take a loan against his inheritance. But, I suspect if you do anything against the SIL's wishes you will need a lawyer.

ScottGem Unfortunately I think you are right. There definitely is a will and the house, car and bank account was definitely all transferred to my SIL. I only know what my MIL told us was in the will and she stated that everything was to be equally divided and that it states so in her will. My MIL was a very intelligent women and definitely knew how to take care of her affairs, she loved us dearly and wanted to make sure that we got an equal share, especially for the sake of our children. The only time her intelligence or common sense might have lapsed was in the last three months of her life, and as said, I don't know what influence my SIL might have had on her during that time. My husband and I talked this over last night, he is a very easygoing man, he doesn't like to rock the boat (especially if he's in it) and even though his sister has hurt him badly he doesn't want to cause any more bad blood between them, but I think I finally convinced him that we need to go to a lawyer and make sure that our rights are being looked after. We aren't naïve or unintelligent people, but we don't have to deal with legal issues in our everyday lives, therefore we aren't that knowledgeable about our legal rights when it comes to issues such as these. Thank you all for your advice, I'll let you know how it goes, but it will probably be a very lengthy process so it won't be for a while.

How do you know the assets were transferred? Did you see a copy of the current deed? Have you seen a bank account statement? Until you do, I'm not sure how you know the transfer was done.

How do you know the assets were transferred? Did you see a copy of the current deed? Have you seen a bank account statement? Until you do, I'm not sure how you know the transfer was done.


You have a suspicious mind LOL. I guess I am too trusting and I'm just assuming that she's telling me the truth. No, I haven't seen any written proof that this was actually done, I guess that is something that I'll have to talk to the lawyer about (when we go). I'm just afraid that if we do this we might end up losing, she definitely has more resources than we do, she can hire a better lawyer and she knows more about these types of legal issues than we do. Like I said before, her husband is also a piece of work and wouldn't be at all concerned if he had to squish us like the bug that I chose to post alongside my name. As I also stated previously, at this point it's not about the money, even though we do deserve our share, but about not letting her get away with this. Whatever happened to "the meek shall inherit the earth"? It seems that the meek cannot even inherit their inheritance:(

Before you go to an attorney, I would do some basic research. You can go to the county courthouse where your MIL's house is and ask to see how the deed is recorded and the recent history. If you know where your MIL banked, you might be able to find out how the accounts were listed , though they may be more difficult and might raise a flag.

The point is, that if the property is still in the MIL's name or was transferred to the SIL AFTER the MIL's death, then the best lawyer in the world is not going to rescue her from this fraud. That's why you need to do your homework first before you spend money on an attorney.

Before you go to an attorney, I would do some basic research. You can go to the county courthouse where your MIL's house is and ask to see how the deed is recorded and the recent history. If you know where your MIL banked, you might be able to find out how the accounts were listed , though they may be more difficult and might raise a flag.

The point is, that if the property is still in the MIL's name or was transferred to the SIL AFTER the MIL's death, then the best lawyer in the world is not going to rescue her from this fraud. That's why you need to do your homework first before you spend money on an attorney.

Thank you so much for this advice, I will definitely do as you suggested. I especially want to thank all of you for your support, it makes me feel a bit better about the whole thing and it really feels good to get this off my chest.

Good luck and keep us posted

good luck and keep us posted

Thank you, I will.