Hello and thank you for taking the time to read this and respond.

My husband died unexpectedly in January. He had no will. We were married for 38 years. I just learned that I am going to lose half of his estate to his brother and I am devastated. We had no children and the brother has no children either. So I believe he will get half. I know it makes no difference to the law but the brother is a felon who made his way through life by stealing from others. We had nothing to do with this evil person and my husband would be furious at the idea of him inheriting. The idea of losing my retirement to a felon doesn't make me happy either.

What I am losing half of is mineral rights. We were going to use them to be able to retire comfortably. It's not a lot of money but we would have been OK adding that to our Social Security and savings. The accessed value is @ 30K.

My first thought was that the brother was dead because he is 9 years older than my husband. No such luck. He is alive but not doing well at all and has diabetes. He is 70 plus and he has had at least one amputation and doesn't get around well. This is all I've been able to find out and right now, he doesn't know his brother is dead. The family doesn't have much to do with him. Personally, I haven't even spoken with him in more than 30 years. I just found out today that he is alive.

I am looking for ways of mitigating my losses. Am I on the right track or not? Can you think of anything else?

1) He is not a full brother, only a half brother. He and my husband had the same mother. The mineral rights came through my husband's father and he is no blood relation to the half brother. Do I have a leg to stand on if I say therefore, he only should get 25%? Is there precedent for this?

2) It is my understanding that I have 4 years to file for Heirship and in some cases, longer. Should I wait thinking the 1/2 brother will die in the meantime? And remember, the half brother has no children that would stand to inherit. Right now, I still have joint accounts with my husband so I can deposit the royalty checks for deposit only. I would be happy to let the leases expire and do without that income in the meantime. That's better than losing half of it forever.

3) I know this one is a shot in the dark and probably won't help me but my husband was working at getting this straightened out. He paid a lawyer to draw up the papers giving me joint tenancy and rights of survivorship. He just hadn't sent them in yet. Darn it! Does this help me at all?

And lastly here is my one piece of advice. Don't die without a will in Texas unless you want your wife/husband to lose half.

If he had no will, then anything would go to you. If his brother was not sharing in the rights already, then I am not sure why he would share in them now. Have you browsed through the information in LawInfo's Free Legal Resource Center to learn more about your issue yet? See: http://www.lawinfo.com/consumer.html and http://resources.lawinfo.com/en/index.html. You can certainly try to speak to a lawyer to determine what legal options may be available. In the meantime, you may be able to learn more on your own. Search the "Free Legal Resources" tab, or browse the Consumer Resources. Good luck.

It was a lawyer who told me I would lose half. According to her, that's the law in Texas if you die without a will. The estate is usually shared 1/2 to the wife and 1/2 to the kids. If you have no children, a sibling of the deceased would be in line to inherit 1/2.

Things have gone from bad to worse. It looks like my H's half brother has just TAKEN all the mineral rights. I have no idea how he could have done this. I thought you had to prove you were entitled. I don't even know how he could have found out my H was dead. I certainly didn't tell him. I haven't spoken to the snake in 30 years.

How can I find out what has happened and stand up for my rights? I don't have the money for lawyers. Other people took it all.

You really need to speak with an attorney regarding this.