I was wondering if anyone out there with experience in estate law could help me. Let me give a little background. My mother's birth father abandoned her before she was born. She was raised since the age of 1 by the person I consider my grandfather. Because her natural father refused to sign away his parental rights, she was never formally adopted by my grandfather. He had no natural children of his own. He recently passed away and there is a very hostile situation with his present wife (not my grandmother). Does my mother have any legal claim to the estate? Also, how would we go about finding out if he had a will or who the beneficiaries of his insurance policies were. His widow will not tell anyone anything. Can anyone help?

If there was a will it may have been filed in probate court so you can check there. If you it wasn't you may be able to file your own claim against the estate asking for a copy of the will. Without an official adoption things will be harder, but if you can produce testimony that she was raised by your grandfather, it should help.

As for insurance beneficiaries, if she is listed as a beneficiary, then the insurance company must attempt to contact her. The current wife can do nothing about that.