my father passed he did not have a will. now my step mother want my brother and I to sign off our 30 percent and make her executor so she do...

Question

my father passed he did not have a will. now my step mother want my brother and I to sign off our 30 percent and make her executor so she does not lose the house. she said if we sign after she pays the house off we xan have the rest of the life in surance money. but niether her or the lawyer know how much the life insurance is. Should I sign or not? she said if I dont sign she will lose everything my dad worked for even the house and no one will get anything PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!!

Answer

No attorney here has seen whatever document you are asked to sign. Allowing your step-mother to be the executor is one thing, but in no way should you be signing anything to relinquish your rights in the home. I do not understand how she will lose the house if you do not sign based on just what you have posted. She needs to keep paying the mortgage and can probably work something out with the mortgage company if she is expecting life insurance benefits.

I really don't like the sound of things from your post. My advice would be to stop posting on a public forum because no lawyer here could competently assist without looking at the documents. You and your brother need to see a probate attorney who practices in the county/state where your father lived prior to his death and pay the lawyer to review the papers.

If the land was jointly owned between your father and his wife, this would pass to the wife automatically and there would be no reason for you to sign, assuming the property was owned as a joint tenancy with right of survivorship or tenancy-by-the-entireties (a special form of ownership of land available only to husbands and wives). Life insurance benefits pass to the named beneficiary outside of probate to the person named on the beneficiary form. If you are not named then the benefits do not pass to you and any promises by the step-mother to the contrary are not worth anything unless there is some written agreement.

If you are the named beneficiary, then you make the claim for benefits, you pay off the house and you inherit the house and, if you want, you can then enter into a rental agreement with step-mother and allow her to rent the home from you.

I also do not know why you should give up your rights to help step-mother unless you are getting something concrete in return. So before you do something you will live to regret, hire your own legal counsel NOW.