I have an uncle who has had no contact with the rest of his family since the mid-1970s. Then, last year I was able to locate him through the Internet (he was living in Seattle, WA) and we exchange a couple of letters. In April of last year, I was contacted by his landlady who told me that he had passed away. She sent me copies of some of his papers, bank statements and such. Some of the documents had his social security number, and I contact SS to get a copy of his SS-5 forum to see if it matched the information I had on him (it did).

- I'm curious about his status...would I be able to contact the hospital (I know which one he went to)?
- If I come forward, will I be responsible for any of his debts? If he has been cremated, would I be responsible for that expense?
- He had about $3000 in a checking account... what happens to that?

Thanks!

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.