Eligible for spousal support?

[heydynagirl]

My father passed away in Feb 2010 and his "friend" was living in the house in separate accomodations. She is still married to her husband, on her husbands health benefits as well as claiming married to her husband in order for him to retain subsidized housing through Ontarion Housing. My question is twofold:
1. Does she have the legal capacity to marry which would possibly give her grounds to apply for spousal support from the estate?
2. How long does she have to apply for spousal support? Which is the section of law which states her length of time to apply? I have searched and not been able to find it.

I should also comment that we are in the midst of filing theft and fraud charges against her and her husband for over 100,000 gone missing from our fathers bank account over the past few years.

Thanks for any responses.

[HammerDad]

Originally Posted by heydynagirl

My father passed away in Feb 2010 and his "friend" was living in the house in separate accomodations. She is still married to her husband, on her husbands health benefits as well as claiming married to her husband in order for him to retain subsidized housing through Ontarion Housing. My question is twofold:
1. Does she have the legal capacity to marry which would possibly give her grounds to apply for spousal support from the estate?
2. How long does she have to apply for spousal support? Which is the section of law which states her length of time to apply? I have searched and not been able to find it.

I should also comment that we are in the midst of filing theft and fraud charges against her and her husband for over 100,000 gone missing from our fathers bank account over the past few years.

Thanks for any responses.

Is she contesting his Will or are you contesting her as being a beneficiary of his Will? Or is she claiming that she is next of kin as they were in a relationship?

I would highly recommend speaking to an estates lawyers, but if she was still filing her taxes and such as married to her ex husband, she will have an EXTREMELY hard case trying to prove that she was in a common law relationship with your dad. I mean, does she really want to admit that she was defrauding the CRA AND Ontario Housing? It will horrible on her credibility.

Anyway, in a common law relationship there are no matrital entitlements as there are when you are actually married. So unless she is in his will as a beneficiary of his estate, she has no right to any of his property or assets. I would have the executor of the estate put it on virtual lockdown, do an inventory on all personal items of value and ensure that no property is removed from the house/estate without permission from the executor. Have the bank change signing authority to the executor only and change all passwords and PIN's.

From there, go through probate and run from there.

[heydynagirl]

She was not listed in the will, only myself and my brother were. We were also the only beneficiaries on the insurance. We were also joint executors of the estate. On the title to the house was my Dad, myself and my brother. She is listed nowhere, absolutely on no document whatsoever. All her mail goes to her primary address, the one through Ontario Housing.

She is not contesting the will, all letters from her lawyer stated she wanted spousal support, an ungodly amount too. As well as survivor rights on his CPP.

We havent heard from her since April 9th, when the lawyer tried to stop the sale of the house, but the order came hours after the house was sold and the funds dispersed.

Dad has been gone over 4 months, and we wanted to find out how long she could legally try and file for spousal support.

[standing on the sidelines]

to me she doesn't have a case or a chance in hell to get it. Look at the can of worms she would be opening. As long as you have proof just tell her lawyer that if she wants to push it you will notify the different agencies at what fraud she has done to them and let the chips fall where they may. I have a feeling that she will back off then.

Sorry about the loss of your father.

[HammerDad]

Originally Posted by heydynagirl

Dad has been gone over 4 months, and we wanted to find out how long she could legally try and file for spousal support.

In these sorts of cases, there is no spousal support as (sorry if I am blunt here, I am sorry for your loss) the spouse has passed away. The estate is no legal obligated to provide her with any support or compensation.

As for the house, did you guys sell it? Or was it sold by your father prior to his passing and she took funds from it? Just curious.

[NotSoNiceEx]

She does not have the legal capacity to marry, she is already married and to be married again would be considered bigamy. She is not on the will as you stated and the house is sold. If she is currently married and has been using her marital home as her address then she would have a very hard time making a claim for cpp survival benefits.

[heydynagirl]

My brother and I sold the house after my father passed away. The funds were stolen over the years from his bank accounts thru the use of his ATM card. After we discovered this we changed the pin number and she wrote cheques payable to her husband using my fathers signature stamp. My father was also visually impaired.

[HammerDad]

Originally Posted by heydynagirl

My brother and I sold the house after my father passed away. The funds were stolen over the years from his bank accounts thru the use of his ATM card. After we discovered this we changed the pin number and she wrote cheques payable to her husband using my fathers signature stamp. My father was also visually impaired.

You are going to have a hard time proving that the funds weren't a "gift" from your dad to her and her husband. Because that is exactly what she will argue. And then it is her word that your dad gifted it to her, and you more then likely don't have enough evidence to prove otherwise. What you would need is some concrete proof that your dad didn't agree to the "gifts".

[logicalvelocity]

I think ... I would call the bluff and perhaps notify the authorities concerning the fraud. Might rattle a cage or two if investigation is started.

[heydynagirl]

When we discovered the funds missing my we added my brother to the account (it has been joint between my father and myself for many years) and changed the pin # as I said. At that time we also contacted a govt agency, Community Care Access to try to arrange for a caregiver. Dad was interviewed by a nurse and a social worker of this agency, where he declared he had not authorized these withdrawals and it was noted on his file. There is documented evidence from them stating Dad declared this. He also declared it to the bank. We contacted the police and they are proceeding with fraud investigation and obtaining a search warrant for her and her husbands accounts.