10/09/2023
It's been a while since our last post. But, we are still here! Here's a brief update on a few of our activities:
1. Land dispute case won for our clients against squatters. Lesson learned: Open your relative's succession within a reasonable time. And, just because someone has been "allowed" to live on your property for more than 30 years does not mean that they own it. In order to "take" someone else's property, they must live there "without permission" for the 30 years, not because an "heir" allowed them to stay there.
2. Unrelated creditor of an estate is entitled to open the succession of a decedent and be named administrator to claim reimbursement for debts of the estate that were paid by the creditor, where no heir comes forward to open the succession. Lesson learned: If the wheel does not squeak, it won't get oiled. It doesn't hurt to ask!
3. Employer held liable in garnishment proceeding for total amount of judgment obtained against a former employee, allowed to appeal the judgment, even though they did not answer the garnishment interrogatories. Lesson learned: Do not ignore legal papers that are served on you. If you don't understand them, ask a lawyer.
4. Client whose "wife" died without a will was allowed to challenge the appointment of an alleged "sibling" who sought to evict him from the house which was in the "wife's" name, despite the fact that he learned after her death that she had obtained a divorce from him many years before her death. The "wife" was an only child whose alleged deceased father had not formerly acknowledged her before his death. Her mother had died many years before the alleged father. The "sibling" opened her "half sister's" succession claiming that she and two other females were the dead girl's sisters and only heirs. Lesson learned: Although the client was the "ex-husband" of the decedent, he had a right to intervene in the succession as a creditor, since he paid for the house. The "half-sister" had no right to open the succession because she could not prove her relationship to the decedent. The action would need to be brought within one year of the alleged father's death.
