American Died From Cancer

[RoyStratton]

can any body help me i am thai lady i work in a college,i was married for 2 wonder ful years to a retired american police man,last january he died from cancer he was 63 years old,i dont know if he left a will or any thing.he wasnt on any pension whilst liveing here when he was sick i payed for all his hospital bills,,he told me his first wife was liveing still in his house in the usa,he was going to sell it so as he had a lot more money over here, can any body tell me am ientitled to any money off his estate, i would be thank ful for any repies because i dont know the rules of america,

[Mario2008]

As this is not about visas, I move it to the family section.

A lot might depend on where you were married and in what US state he was living. But I'm no US-lawyer.

[Jingthing]

It doesn't sound too promising. However, one question I would have is whose name is on title of the house in the USA. Assuming it is your deceased husband's name only, then you also need to know if he had a will in the USA. Americans often have two wills. One for their USA assets and one for their Thai assets. I assume you are interested in his USA assets. If it's only his name on the house title, and the ex-wife was not actually still married to your ex (in which case, forget it!), and there was no USA will leaving his assets to someone else, then it might be worthwhile contacting legal advise in the US state where the house and his former residence was located to see if a surviving spouse may be able to inherit the house. There also may be retirement account funds like IRAs, 401Ks, but usually people specify beneficiaries to these accounts, so if he didn't tell you, it probably wasn't to you. About the house, a lot of US real estate has dropped massively in price in recent years. Before you spend any money researching it, you might want to figure whether that house is really worth anything and/or can be sold in this market. That will vary a lot by its specific location.

I am also wondering if there is a Thai consulate in the region of the house and whether they might be interested in talking to you about this. These consulates exist to help people get visas to visit Thailand but also of course probably more importantly to assist Thai nationals in the US.

Bottom line, if you want to research possible assets that are due to you, in your situation, it is going to have to be you who starts the process and spends some money doing that, with no certain return. If I were you, I would probably at least make the first steps and try to figure out how you can find out what names were on the house title and whether there was a USA will. Then from there, if it still looks like there is a chance, go from there.

There may be some lower cost ways to get this started assuming you know the locality of the house. You can start to contact government agencies of the county where the house is (they will have websites with contact information for various services) with requests for information about how you can get the basic information you need to start this -- whose name on title, whether he was still married to the "ex-wife", the value of the house, the existence of a will, whether he had a will. However, to do this you will need to be fluent in English so you may need to pay for help to even do that. Yes, it's complicated, sorry.

Edited December 31, 2010 by Jingthing

[gregb]

First, my sincere condolences on the loss of your husband.

Too much is going to depend on the specific state where the assets are located to be answered in this forum. Not the least of which is that the US is not a monolithic entity. It is a conglomeration of individual states, each with their own laws. Even if someone gives you an answer based on their best judgment, if they don't have experience in the specific state where your husband is from, it could turn out to be incorrect.

It is almost certainly the case that if you were not legally married in Thailand, you will have very little chance of receiving anything from a US court. Even if you were, an overseas Thai wife of only 2 years will likely face challenges by any other heirs.

On the bright side, if your American husband was legally divorced, in several states this means the ex wife is no longer considered an heir at all, and if you were legally married you may have a better claim on any assets than she does. Even if there is a will that was written before you were married naming his ex wife as a beneficiary it could be successfully challenged in court. Children from the previous marriage could challenge any claim you have of course, and they would likely be victorious over you.

Do you know who is the executor of your late husband's estate, or how to get in touch with that person? Do you have contact information for any family members of your late husband who could put you in touch with the executor of his estate?

You will definitely need to contact a lawyer in the US licensed in the specific state where your ex husband was last resident. If there are other legal heirs to his estate, you will likely face a legal battle unless you can arrange a settlement out of court. There are so many specific issues that nobody on this forum can give you a proper answer. Most law offices in the US will give you an initial consultation for free. I recommend you search on the internet for several located in the last known state of your late husband and give them a call.

[mike123ca]

Since he was divorced, I suspect he had to surrender most of his assets to his first wife.

I'm guessing that is why his present wife is not able to find anything.

[amykat]

Well I disagree with Mike123 ...a spouse doesn't usually get more than half, (unless there is fraud, hiding assests, pre-nup, etc) of whatever was earned during a marriage, and losses/debts are split as well ...except in the case of children, than there will be a general split, but also some child support, other issues. His ex-wife could still have an agreement that she and their children can live in the house, until they reach some point, legal age, finish college, whatever, then they agreed to sell the house and share the proceeds in some equitable manner. Doubtful at 63 that he has minor children, but not impossible.

I think the MOST pertinent point here, is the total lack of information the Thai wife seems to have. This man apparently didn't die without being aware he might die shortly, this wasn't an auto accident for example. So IF he intended to set up his Thai wife, don't you all think he might have given her some infomation so that she could follow up or if he wanted to keep it a secret from her, he would have set up his executor to contact her and take care of this business?

Maybe all she is hoping for, is to be paid back for hospital bills she paid for. If so, she might be able to get that from any resonable relative who inherited money from him. On the other hand, if she hopes for a large windfall, after spending 2 years with a man who had lived 60 years before knowing her, who probably has children, siblings, may have parents alive, well that is a bit much to expect, even if you hope? And well frankly, even if she did pay some hospital bills, we don't know the situation, he might have supported her for several years, bought her a house, a car, all in her name, so it isn't part of his estate, and paying some hospital bills in exchange, might not be a bad deal.

Did the Thai "wife" have a real, legally binding marriage, that must be the first question, as we know that any girls sleeping with a guy, might refer to him as a husband, and can sometimes have inflated ideas about their entitlement. Or they may have had a religious only wedding. Or I am sure there are men here who are still married in their "home" country, but don't care, need a visa or whatever, and get married again here.

Anyway, all of it sounds not so honest, like a 63 year old police man with no pension, they I believe, can qualify at younger ages, for example there is one newer poster saying he has a very large police pension at 58 years latetly on TV ...one can usually get SS at 62, although a lower amount, so maybe this man didn't want to be honest about his money for some reason, one of which was that he didn't want this lady to expect a large payoff, or to expect too much on a regular basis, in the case that he didn't die so soon. He knew he might/would die, and gave her no info (or did give her info, but she might be still want to look harder? and not accept it?) Or maybe the guy was an ass, had no money, scammed her, said he had a house he would sell later, to keep her interested, maybe he never was on a police force, who knows?

But overall, I would expect, that if there is a big windfall, she won't be getting it. Or there is not much of anything. Either way, the cost to investigate, hire lawyers, do it from here, if you can, get visas and travel to the US, if needed, in case she can't ....this probably is fairly cost prohibitive and will not likely end up with a profit.

Sounds like to me, this woman, has been hearing all kinds of gossip and bullshit from Thai friends, who are pushing her to do something, and maybe now she has ideas that she might be really missing out. If she lived with this man, she should have access to a lot of paperwork, even if he keeps it locked up in a safe (like I do), just get a locksmith to open it and get another American to interpret whatever is there, what it means, what it is, what it isn't. If there is NO paperwork here, maybe his wealth doesn't exist, or he purposely didn't want his life in Thailand and that wealth to mix.

Well just a different opinion to consider, but maybe a more realistic one?

[Jingthing]

I agree a retired policeman would usually have a pension from that. Most of the other stuff, a lot of presumptions about people we don't know. Personally, I don't think this is a moral issue. Rather, are there assets, and are any of them legally due to this survivor. But the first comment I said kind of still stands, It doesn't sound too promising.

[mike123ca]

The truth is we don't much in the way of details, so we tend to build in some assumptions.

Facts: He states he's an ex-policeman ( most cops usually have generous retirement plans)

She said He had an ex- wife in America.

Did they have children. If so, then you have child support and maybe tuition expenses.

I'm surprised that he didn't leave his Thai wife a will.

IMHO I suspect there isn't much in the way of assets.

so he didn't bother drawing up a will.

[InterestedObserver]

Sad story really, dying man does not provide for his Thai family as best he can.

[sunanta]

i am an american ,an you are entitled to 50 percent of your husbands social security beniifits for the rest of your life if im not mistaken...contact the american embassy and ask to apply for a program called social security benifits

Sad story really, dying man does not provide for his Thai family as best he can.

[amykat]

I know this is a late reply, but as far as I know, you need to be married for over 10 years, before you can qualify for SS from your spouse.

And then there would be the issue about foreign spouses, never having lived in the US, I don't think they will qualify in the same way.

[Langsuan Man]

See this TV thread regarding US Social Security and foreign spouses