Father recently deceased with no will, don't know where to start.
My father died in a vehicle accident a few days ago. There is no will that we the family know of and his girlfriend isn't being of any help. The only thing she gave us was a suitcase with 4 picture frames and two pairs of socks. We've never dealt with anything like this so we're all looking for the right direction to proceed in.
First, my father has a house on a two acre lot in which the deed is in his name which we currently have. He did not live there, but right next door with his girlfriend. She is claiming it is hers but has no documentation proving it. We do not know which direction we need to move in and we don't want to be hit blind sided either. So what should be done first and foremost?
Secondly, we know my father had a lock box at a bank but we're not for sure where. We currently have the key but there is no name on it, just a number. We're hoping that if we can find this that all of these questions will be answered. We have already frozen his checking accounts that we know of to prevent the girlfriend from withdrawing any money. Her name was not listed on any of his check receipts that we have found so far. We are just looking for a direction to move in to locate these accounts and what we'll need for the family to access them.
We are worried that there is more going on behind the scenes relating to my fathers accident because of the different stories that my two brothers got from the girlfriend the day of the accident. We were also confronted at the funeral by a previous husband of the girlfriend asking for his keys which was really weird and definitely not the right time or place. My father didn't own any thing of any great value but we're pretty sure he had a small insurance policy because we have found receipts of payments. She denied that he had one to us but she called the funeral home trying to get a death certificate to claim his policy to "buy a headstone" for my father.