Does the price include possibly having to wade in and properly probate the estate? Because, if so, that’s not a bad range.
Seems like money well spent to find out it’s all been properly settled.
Oh yeah there’s a will, I thought there would be all along. Get ready. What Uncle’s really been up to is about to become clear. I think he’s cheating you out of an inheritance and I think he’s about to find himself in a world of trouble for not following the law.
Pay the money and get it settled, properly, legally and done.
I am originally from Illinois and still have lots of family there.
It seems like you are doing everything right, but did want to mention one tidbit, should you or others wish to keep the house.
Property taxes in Illinois are insane!
There will be a very hefty fee to pay each year - so just in case you thought you owned a house outright, and could just rent it and sit back, be sure to research what the State of Illinois will be expecting you to cough up yearly. This could make the entire venture not worth the time and effort.
Bump. Any updates?
I hired a lawyer off of LegalMatch because he 1: had a nice long phone consultation with me that he didn’t charge for 2: pulled a bunch of documents from the county regarding my grandmother’s house before charging me and 3: was a nice guy. Once he pulled everything, he told me he could take care of it for $300, which was more than agreeable to me.
Within a day of him sending a letter to GMAC’s lawyer, he got a response with a release of liability for me. Lawyer explained that me signing this would remove any ability for me to make a claim against grandma’s property, but I was fine with that, signed it, got it notarized, and shipped it off. We’re still waiting for everything to get finalized from GMAC and for the action to be dropped, but I’m not particularly worried about anything. In addition to being nice, the lawyer seems aggressive, so I trust he’ll do what needs to be done here.
One interesting thing: the will. So, lawyer found that there was a will on file with the county and asked if I was named in it. I sent a text to my uncle saying that I needed to know if I was named and he insisted I wasn’t. We get a copy of the will. . . guess who is directly named? Yours truly, of course. The will says everything will be left to my uncle, but has a whole paragraph specifically dictating that all jewelry should be distributed between myself and my little cousin. My mom is only mentioned in the will to note that she is intentionally being left out of it.
Lawyer said my uncle has been such a jerk about this that he’d be happy to harass him into giving me my portion of the jewelry-- and not charge me for the process. A kind offer, but I’d rather just forget about this whole thing. Such a mess!
So, if anybody in the Chicago area needs a good lawyer for estates, wills, probate, whatever-- I know a guy :).
Boy, I think I’d let that attorney get my jewelry, especially if he won’t charge you for it. You can still forget about the whole thing until the attorney sends you a box of awesome jewelry! And if you don’t like the jewelry, hey, pawn it or have it melted into something you would like.
BTW, thanks for the update. I was wondering how this was all going to play out.
You handled that perfectly. Well done.
I’d have the lawyer put a little scare into Uncle and then tell him that he can go ahead and keep the jewelry. Just letting it go is the more mature and probably better approach though.
I’d take the jewelry. Your uncle deserves it for putting you through all of this and constantly lying.
Yep, get the jewelry. Later, if you change your mind, there is always a good cause to donate it to. But if you say no, and later you decide you want a particular piece to remember Mom by, you’re out of luck.
Well, Uncle told my mom before that all of the jewelry was “junk” so he just gave it away to her friends. Not sure I buy it, but whatever.
Let him explain that to the probate judge.
Another vote for “let the lawyer go to town” if he won’t charge you for it. Your uncle really needs to learn the lesson that he can’t just do as he pleases with no consequences.
You are entirely too nice about all this. Letting people screw you over just because you don’t want to deal with it seems like it sets a terrible precedent.
^^ I agree with them! You need to stand up for yourself here. Or they’ll find a way down the road to really aggravate you and try to push you around next funeral in the family. 
Second.
How does this effect me in the least if I never speak to this person again? It’s not like this is me letting my boss walk all over me or something-- it’s a douche I will have no communication with for the rest of my life.
Not that anyone here really knows me well enough to know this, but I’m generally a grudge holder and a fighter. In this case though, it just isn’t worth my trouble. It isn’t my job to teach a grown ass man a lesson-- it’s not like he’d learn anything anyway.
What about the next family funeral though? Can you actually leave him out of all of those?
Maybe you are rich enough that getting screwed out of some money doesn’t affect you in the least, I don’t really know.
It’s all probably in a pawn shop somewhere so she can always imagine that her largesse has jumpstarted someone else’s familial jewelry collection.
As for missing out on money, Diosa’s made it clear that she’s already budgeted her life for none of this relative’s wealth and when it comes to bad juju, ain’t nobody got time for that.
We have a small family, so it’s entirely likely that we could avoid each other indefinitely.
Rich enough? I spent $300 to save me $165,000. Yeah, it burned to spend $300, but it was a necessary expense.
I could fight over some jewelry, but if it escalated, I would have to pay the court costs and filings. . . all for some jewelry I don’t need or want. I’m far from rich, but I also haven’t been waiting for my grandmother to drop dead so I could cash in on her riches and buy an island or something. C’mon now. Sure, lawyer will send some demand letters for free, but suing people for things does actually cost money I would rather not spend. If you want to talk about rich enough, I’m not rich enough to just go all sue happy on people for things I don’t want or need.