Help Can a dead persons estate be sued for.....

[TheLastFemaphrodyke]

Yesterday, my husband and I found that we were correct, his mother had stolen mine and my children's personal information papers, birth certificates, social security cards, passports....She stole these things while we were living in a home that she owned that she was renting to us. I am estranged from my family and have no idea if she has used my children's information. I have been hiding from an ex who tried to kill me numerous times and was making my life a living hell, he had drained my personal bank accounts and ruined my credit, I had my own credit and identity cut off and put on hold with the SSA shortly after I went into hiding, so it is doubtful that she could have done anything further to my credit, but at this point it is still unclear as I have not been able to get my identification back since his death this past January, we are still working on that, it is a long arduous process and I am at this point still homeless and suffering with PTSD and other problems.
MOST of the PTSD comes, most recently, from my husbands mother....,she offered me $10,000 to walk out of the house without any of my belongings or my cats, and never return, and when I refused, she attacked me and threatened to kill me, told me she could loose my body in the wilderness where no one would ever find it. Her attack itself was brutal and terrifying, but it sent me into sever PTSD from when I had been abducted from my yard at the age of 41/2. She continued for the next 6 years to continually torture me and abuse me, she infiltrated my facebook and destroyed every single relationship I ever had with anyone in my family. Just a little over a year ago she was diagnosed with ALS and died this past October.
His mother had cut my husband out of the will, which was fine, she is the last reason we became homeless and have been homeless ever since, we were not looking for anything from her estate. We had been estranged from her for almost 10 years ad wanted nothing to do with her.
My husband actually signed papers just a few weeks ago stating he would not contest his sister being executrix of the estate. At her insistence, her lawyer kept sending multiple letters to multiple addresses to ensure they got that letter signed and back to them as soon as possible.
His sister then planned to do the ashes thing on fathers day and wanted us to then ditch THEIR dad AND then come and get these 'things' they had for him.. We were not interested in either, had already made plans with his dad and just didm't go.
His sister kept insisting that she had things for HIM, his things from childhood, his childhood memories, and that we needed to come and get them, that is was very important that we come when both she and his brother are going to be there. Three hour drive later, the ONLY things they have for him is half a shopping bag full of the artwork he did as a child, they are sorry, everyone already picked through everything else... and.... half my children's personal papers that had been stolen, in terrible condition, so totally disrespected, torn, curled, damaged, stained, not in all together organized envelopes as I had them, one of the birth certificates and two of the social security cards are missing, one passport is missing, only one baby picture of my daughter is left, none of either son.
Apparently, my husbands sister found the papers, hidden under the stairs, at the house his mother lived in, where we had never lived.
Now.....the even juicier juice....
The sister said NOTHING to us about personal papers of any kind, more or less of the private information kind, and that of my children's, MY children's, when she kept insisting we needed to come get HIS things they had for HIM.
I know have possession of my birth certificate, social security card, and other important papers to get my identity back, so that is good, but this now dead woman put me through hell and yesterday I find that she may have been causing problems for my children, that I am estranged from, that she had something to do with part of that estrangement, not all, but she interfered in a sneaky, underhanded and dishonest way to cause a deepened riff and created a false ones.
My husbands mother owned many homes, she was what they call a slum lord, she smoked and drank all the rent she took in and left a tax mess for the two children she willed everything to. Now, they are selling everything off, took care of her tax mess, still have a few houses to sell and are living pretty and made sure they treated their older brother like shit, insisted we come get these very important things they saved for 'him' from his past, when his sister drives past where we are having to stay, TWICE a week and could very EASILY brought one little shopping back with his childhood drawings (and my children's ruined identity papers they had found weeks earlier, yet, had not told us about, but they wanted to both be there when I was presented the ruined papers).
My husband gets one day off a week, he drives all day every day for his job, yet they insisted we drive an 8 hour day because what they had was that important and they wanted to see him get it. That gave my husband the impression they had something from his mother for him, he was devastated that his sister, along with one of his brothers, had treated him the same way his mother had.
Then the ramifications that his mother had actually gone into our home, ransacked the file cabinet and stolen things, the entire reason we had to put padlocks on the basement door, then the further ramifications of what she could have done with those identity papers, to my CHILDREN. MY children, that are NOT her relation, NOT her grandchildren, MY children from pervious relationships.
She had NO right to those papers, she had no right to enter our home, without our knowledge, or consent, whether she was the landlord or not, whether she was one of our parents or not, she had no right to go through the file cabinet and she had no right to take anything that was ours/mine/my children's/NOT HERS. We left nothing behind when we moved out, and I still have the pictures of the house when we left I snapped every room and closet, it was cleaned, spotless, empty, and we left only one envelope with a handwritten letter from Ben telling her to leave us alone and not to contact us because of what she had done to me and that he suspected she had killed Mary.


I want to know....
Can I sue the estate for damages?
Can I sue the estate for the theft of my personal and my children's personal information, even if it was not used in an illegal manner?
Can I sue the estate for the abuse and terror I suffered at her hands and my subsequent homelessness and immersion into sever PTSD?
If I can sue, who do I talk to? What kind of lawyer do I talk to? How do I put it forward to them? How do I present my case to them to get them to take the case?

I am hoping someone on here has some real legal expertise and is willing to point me in the right direction or can tell me that I am just shit outta luck, suck it up buttercup. I am really tired of being abused, taken advantage of and being left high and dry with nothing while other live like royalty.

Yesterday, my husband and I found that we were correct, his mother had stolen mine and my children's personal information papers, birth certificates, social security cards, passports....She stole these things while we were living in a hone that she owned that she was renting to us. I am estranged from my family and have no idea if she has used my children's information. I have been hiding from an ex who tried to kill me numerous times and was making my life a living hell, he had drained my personal bank accounts and ruined my credit, I had my own credit and identity cut off and put on hold with the SSA shortly after I went into hiding, so it is doubtful that she could have done anything further to my credit, but at this point it is still unclear as I have not been able to get my identification back since his death this past January, we are still working on that, it is a long arduous process and I am at this point still homeless and suffering with PTSD and other problems.
MOST of the PTSD comes, most recently, from my husbands mother....,she offered me $10,000 to walk out of the house without by of my belongings or my cats and never return and when I refused, she attacked me and threatened to kill me, told me she could loose my body in the wilderness where no one would ever find it. Her attack itself was brutal and terrifying, but it sent me into sever PTSD from when I had been abducted from my yard at the age of 41/2. She continued for the next 6 years to continually torture me and abuse me, she infiltrated my facebook and destroyed every single relationship I ever had with anyone in my family. Just a little over a year ago she was diagnosed with ALS and died this past October.
She had cut my husband out of the will, which was fine, she is the last reason we became homeless and have been homeless ever since, were not looking for anything from her estate.
His sister kept insisting that she had things for him and that we needed to come and get them. Three hour drive later, the ONLY things they have for him is half a shopping bag full of the artwork he did as a child and half my children's personal papers that had been stolen, is terrible condition, so totally disrespected, torn, curled, damaged, stained, not in all together, one of the birth certificates and two of the social security cards are missing, only one baby picture of my daughter is left, none of either son.
Apparently, my husbands sister found the papers hidden under the stairs.
Now.....the even juicier juice....
The sister said NOTHING to us about there being personal papers of any kind, more or less of the private information kind, and that of my childrens. I know have possession of my birth certificate, social security card, and other important papers to get my identity back, so that is good, but this woman put me through hell and yesterday I find that she may have been causing problems from my children, that I am estranged from, that she had something to do with part of that estrangement, not all, but she interfered in a sneaky, underhanded and dishonest way to cause deepen a rif and created a false ones.
My husbands mother owned many homes, she was what they call a slum lord, she smoked and drank all the rent she took in and left a tax mess for the two children she willed everything to. Now, they are selling everything off, took care of her tax mess, still have a few houses to sell and are living pretty and made sure they treated their older brother like shit, insisted we come get these very important things they saved for 'him' from his past, when his sister drives past where we are having to stay, TWICE a week and could very EASILY brought one little shopping back with his childhood drawings (and my children's ruined identity papers they had found weeks earlier, yet, had not told us about, but wanted to both be there when I was presented the ruined papers). My husband gets one day off a week, he drives all day every day for his job, yet they insisted we drive an 8 hour day because what they had was that important and they wanted to see him get it. That gave my husband the impression they had something from his mother for him, he was devastated that his sister, along with one of his brothers, had treated him the same way his mother had. Then the ramifications that his mother had actually gone into our home, ransacked the file cabinet and stolen things, the entire reason we had to put padlocks on the basement door, then the further ramifications of what she could have done with those identity papers, to my CHILDREN. MY children, that are NOT her relation, NOT her grandchildren, MY children from pervious relationships. She had NO right to those papers, she had no right to enter our home, without our knowledge, or consent, she had no right to go through the file cabinet and she had no right to take anything that was ours. We left nothing behind and I still have the pictures of the house when we left, it was cleaned, spotless, and we left only one envelope with a handwritten letter from Ben telling her to leave us alone and not to contact us because of what she had done to me and that he suspected she had killed Mary.


I want to know....
Can I sue the estate for damages?
Can I sue the estate for the theft of my personal and my children's personal information, even if it was not used in an illegal manner?
Can I sue the estate for the abuse and terror I suffered at her hands and my subsequent homelessness and immersion into sever PTSD?
If I can sue, who do I talk to? What kind of lawyer do I talk to? How do I put it forward to them? How do I present my case to them to get them to take the case?

I am hoping someone on here has some real legal expertise and is willing to point me in the right direction or can tell me that I am just shit outta luck, suck it up buttercup. I am really tired of being abused, taken advantage of and being left high and dry with nothing while other live like royalty. I just want a home and to be left alone by everyone.

 

[unredeemable]

What an absolutely awful circumstance to be in. There's nothing fair about this life. I'm no lawyer or estate expert, but I've lived with one for the last 15 years and my gut tells me you've got a high burden to meet, even in civil court. Actually advancing your case to trial would be very expensive with lots of discovery needed to find enough evidence to make your case.

There would be some benefit to that process itself, without even going to trial. Forcing them to turn over the documents of the estate might give you some of the answers you've been looking for. But it's impossible to know what they have or if it's all been destroyed.

If you win, that's just a judgement. Collection is another matter altogether. If they're shady, they'll try and clean everything out of the estate they can and then close it as quickly as possible.

That's just my best guess, so it is by no means definitive. I hope you can find some answers and some comfort.

 

[TheLastFemaphrodyke]

What an absolutely awful circumstance to be in. There's nothing fair about this life. I'm no lawyer or estate expert, but I've lived with one for the last 15 years and my gut tells me you've got a high burden to meet, even in civil court. Actually advancing your case to trial would be very expensive with lots of discovery needed to find enough evidence to make your case.

There would be some benefit to that process itself, without even going to trial. Forcing them to turn over the documents of the estate might give you some of the answers you've been looking for. But it's impossible to know what they have or if it's all been destroyed.

If you win, that's just a judgement. Collection is another matter altogether. If they're shady, they'll try and clean everything out of the estate they can and then close it as quickly as possible.

That's just my best guess, so it is by no means definitive. I hope you can find some answers and some comfort.

They already gave us the papers back, yesterday, I have possession of the papers now. She COULD not have had possession of the papers she had not broken into our home and stolen them. We have proof she had them, in her home, where she should not have had them, I never gave them to her, my husband never gave them to her, they were stolen from the home we lived in she owned. We came home to find the basement broken into and the file cabinet missing items that were never found, we had to pad lock the basement. Half of those papers were returned to us, yesterday, in terrible condition. Not as I had them stored, neatly, in each childs on envelope. Identifications items are still missing. They claim that is all the papers they found. They are already closing the estate as quickly as they can, so it is best if I file suit sooner than later.

 

[unredeemable]

They already gave us the papers back, yesterday, I have possession of the papers now. She COULD not have had possession of the papers she had not broken into our home and stolen them. We have proof she had them, in her home, where she should not have had them, I never gave them to her, my husband never gave them to her, they were stolen from the home we lived in she owned. We came home to find the basement broken into and the file cabinet missing items that were never found, we had to pad lock the basement. Half of those papers were returned to us, yesterday, in terrible condition. Not as I had them stored, neatly, in each childs on envelope. Identifications items are still missing. They claim that is all the papers they found. They are already closing the estate as quickly as they can, so it is best if I file suit sooner than later.

I'm talking about emails between them where they conspired to commit fraud using your children's information etc. Lots of things come out in discovery, but it takes a good lawyer to know where to look and how to proceed. See if there's a Legal Aid office somewhere near you. They may be able to give you advice on how to file suit pro se. That way, at least you have a claim entered against her estate. Good luck. I wish there was more I could do.

 

[TheLastFemaphrodyke]

I have posted a couple questions on find a lawyer and some other similar place but have heard nothing back yet, but all my instincts tell me the whole thing stinks. I do not think the brother and sister conspired, or tried to use the information, and I do not know if she did, or even tried, her computer is long gone, that is one of the things they got rid of first, have no idea where that is, there is little to nothing left but a couple houses, they actually started selling things off before my husband even signed the paperwork allowing them to do so. They never mentioned they had found identity papers of my children, they did not put the items in a safe place, they were thrown into the shopping bag with my husbands childhood drawings.
Now, my name, as it is now and as everyone in my life for over the last 20 years has known me (five whole years before I moved to where I am and met my husband or his mother), is nothing like ANY of my children's names and my name on all of their birth certificates, since they are all almost 40, is nothing like my children's names or my name now. Even my first name is different, completely. I would like to know how it is that my husbands sister knew the identity papers were for my children? She also then tried to claim that her mother had these because we had left them behind, in that condition, in the house when we left it. I have pictures to prove that house was cleaned, spotless, with nothing but a letter to her left in it.
We had to get a 'keep away from me thing' I cannot remember what it is called, when she attacked me and threatened to kill me, before the house was broken into and the papers were stolen, so we have police records to prove her animosity towards me and I have my husband, who lived together with in a truck for over 7 years, 24/7/365, and before that for years, to attest to the fact that I have been suffering from PTSD that was brought on by his mother, he can attest to many things that happened to me at her hands before we finally moved out, he can attest to how she stole money from us and made us work to pay off rent we had already paid, he can attest to how she did him, how she did his father, his father can attest to the things she has done to him and well, she did spend time in jail for beating the hell outta a woman.