Legal advice needed in USA. My ';ex'; stepmum has put on my dads death certifcate that they were still married

at the time of his death. They were divorced 7 years ago and seperated for 10 years in total.When we asked her about it she started shaking and went white.She said they did it by accident. What can I do about this....in my mind this is fraud as she is claiming all his assets now.My brother,sister and I want to press charges but we are based in the UK.We have a solicitor here and a lawyer in the usa working for us.Legal advice needed in USA. My ';ex'; stepmum has put on my dads death certifcate that they were still married
Contact the ';district attorney'; for the city where the crime was commited. Send them a copy of the divorce decree and the death certificate. Explain that they never remarried and she intentionally commited fraud. There probably is some life insurance also. You might want to mention the city and state where this took place, due to the fact each state has their own laws. This criminal complaint is done in one day, and furthermore, in some states, the judge will make her pay restitution to the people she defrauded. That's the proper heirs to your fathers estate. In order for it to be fraud, do not correct the death certificate. You need a copy of it. You can request a copy in the city were your father past away.


Your birth certifcate or id with his last name should be enough. Death certificates depending on the city costs from 13.00 to 22.00. Then you need to get a copy of your fathers will. In order for it to take hold, you need to contact the district court house, where they file civil records. His will might be posted in the probate court. Also each state has an agency that licences insurance company. Contact them, if your dad had insurance they might offer you some advice. Each state agency usually has a website.


(Unlike a lawyer who might want to sue her in civil court, in order to keep a portion of what he recovers for you or bill you, the state will not bill you to take her to court criminally if it is a good case. )Legal advice needed in USA. My ';ex'; stepmum has put on my dads death certifcate that they were still married
iT IS FRAUD.


You can prove it from the decree absolute your fater obtained on his divorce,if you dont have a copy then you will need to apply to the courts.Nobody does that by accident she thought she could cash in on his death.Just tell her if she is intent on carrying this through you will drag her through every court possible and show people what a lying greedy ***** she really is,ask your solicitor to freeze your fathers assets so she carn't touch them untill you get to court,
see a solicitor straight away sounds a bit dodgy to me


there would be some kind of record of their divorce meaning shes entitled to nothing of your fathers unless stated in his will that she will get anything





you need to get onto this straight away the longer you leave it the bigger the mess will get
Certainly she will have to show some sort of documentation showing they were still married, which they weren't. Your attorney should have access to records of their divorce which he will be able to show the judge or whom ever is taking care of this case. I cannot believe your step mom would do this to your family. I'm sorry this happened to you. My mom passed away when I was 20 so I know that it's a difficult time... you odn't want to have to be worrying about shallow people trying to get everything they can out of your dad's death. Celebrate his life and let the attorney's take care of this one. She has NO chance. She has committed fraud and as long as there's evidence of their divorce, everything will be made right. Good luck!
She can claim anything she wants on the death certificate. When it gets to brass tacks she'll need to show a marriage license that superceeds the divorce date; or she will be of record as his ex-wife.





Your USA atty shouldn't have any problems with this one. If he left a will, it's cut and dried; if not, state law will come into play for intestate heirs. She'll have to provide proof she was still married if challenged.
If You have a lawyer let him work on it. It takes time. Your lawyer may have to ask for an injunction to stop the woman from disposing of property. But if the estate is still in probate she should not be able to do anything yet anyway.





Good Luck
yes if she had made a mistake why didnt SHE go and sort it out? May take a while but dont back down. You are right it is fraud.
Absolutely press charges. That is a fraud. All you need is a copy of their divorce decree showing that they were in fact already divorced.
What you need to do is get a copy of the divorce degree which is filed in the Court House of the county where your father and step-mother were divorced. Sometimes you can obtain this information on-line and may have to pay a small price for the document. Just do a search of the Court House in the state and county of the divorce.





Since your step-mother is aware that you know, you could tell her that you plan on getting a copy of the divorce degree and perhaps she will do something about the change immediately.





Your lawyers in the USA have to stop her from talking anything until this is settled in court.





Did your father have a Will?





What she is entitled to is your father's social security death benefits WHEN she reaches retirement age. Even though they were are divorced and seperated, as long as she was married to him for 10 years AND never remarries, she would be entitled to these benefits. She CAN'T collect on her retirement benefits and his but Social Secuirty would advise her of this at that time.





NOW, you also have to contact the Social Security Office about what you have found because there is a $325.00 death benefit paid to the family. If your step-mom reported your father's passing and sends them a copy of the death certificate with her name on it as his wife, she would receive this $325.00.





http://www.socialsecurity.gov/








Do you have a copy of the death certificate? If not, make sure you get an ';official'; copy of the death certificate from the funeral home.
with the lawyer in the USA working for you i would say you are on track.God help you.