Wed 23 Dec, 2015 08:40 pm
Wife's father, in his nineties, had a Ukrainian woman as caretaker. He grew fond of her and bought her a house in Ukraine and unbeknownst to his three children he drew up a paper with his lawyer stating that upon his death a quarter million would transfer to the caretaker's bank account. Another 100,000 plus the house were what constituted the estate, and this was to be divided four ways equally among the three children and the Ukrainian caretaker. The father had also paid his son to marry the caretaker (although they did not consummate the marriage and had nothing to do with each other, with the son knowing nothing of the secret transfer of the quarter million), in order to facilitate the caretaker's obtaining of a green card.
Any recourse through courts here for the children to obtain what they see to be their rightful shares, and what happens if the sham marriage and improper obtaining of green card residency is revealed to the authorities?
@JamesOwen,
You need a lawyer. Please don't go looking for free advice online.
There is a ton of money at stake. Take some of it and hire a competent attorney knowledgeable in trusts and estates.
@JamesOwen,
Why is "rightful shares" any different than what the wife's father put in his will? It was his estate; he had the right to decide what constitutes a rightful share for whomever he decided to give it to, I think. Seems to me that the only part that might be successfully legally contested is that which surrounds the sham marriage.
@jespah,
Why not look for advice online? Might be someone out there who has had similar experience, could give a heads up . Someone, for instance who knows something about the "Georgian Mafia", who might just specialize in something like this
@FBM,
Well of course the siblings believe they have more right to the papa's estate than does a caretaker who swoops in when the papa is frail and strokes his psyche with attention so he signs his accounts over to her. Just wondering if anyone has had experience with this kind of pathos.