[bobcat3]

My estranged father lives in a common law relationship and is in poor health. The woman he lives with controls all the finances and has a friend who is an attorney. Not sure if a will exists. This woman is not trusted by me or my two sisters. What is a realistic scenario with our inheritance? He will not discuss this issue with us.

[ballengerb1]

He who, your dad? If he won't talk to you about it the scenario is dim. BTW, LA is not one of the 11 states that recognize common law marriage.

[AK lawyer]

Although Louisiana still has, I think, laws which give the children a right to inherit some portion of an estate, there may, for all I know, be ways around it. So, as ballengerb1 says, the scenario is dim.

[Fr_Chuck]

If he has a will, and leaves most of things to his girlfriend, you may be just out of luck,

She is not common law, since I don't believe they have it there any longer, Unless he was with her and meet those requirements when they had common law. But he can leave her the majority of the estate in his will if he wants.

If he won't discuss it, most likely the he is mad or upset since you don't like the women he loves. Often being nice and getting back into his graces is better than trying to fight with him over her

[joypulv]

Extremely dim, given that you say estranged as well as unwilling to discuss. I would never ask a parent about inheritance, only discuss it if they brought it up first. Aside from the fact that it is their money, not mine, it's not meaningful until death. Assets can be gone in a blink of an eye, from a Bernie Madoff scheme to a market crash to very expensive final days health care.

[ebaines]

In LA if a decedant dies without a will (i.e. he dies intestate) and there is no surviving spouse, then by law the descendants split the assets. But as already pointed out, if he has a valid will then that controls who gets what.