'AITA if I don't give anything to my husband's ex's kids after he passed away?'

"AITA if I don't give anything to my step kids after my husband's death."

lifefail4 says:

My husband passed away 7 months ago. I am 30, and he was 41. He has two children (10F and 11M) with his ex, and we have a 2-year-old together. His ex has always been a nightmare to deal with.

She has talked badly about us since day one, but luckily it never impacted our relationship with the kids. We only got them every other weekend, so I have never really been a parental figure to them, but we have always had a good relationship.

His ex has been contacting me and seems to think her children should get half of everything. She wants me to sell the house, and I just don't get it. I could understand if he were worth millions, but he wasn’t. We were very comfortable but not wealthy.

Am I horrible if I don't sell everything and split it down the middle, even down to checking and savings? I really want to do the right thing, but I don't know if this expectation is reasonable. I told them they could have any personal items they wanted.

His ex will never let the kids come over now that she doesn’t have to. I told them if they ever need anything or want to reach out, my number will be the same, and we text every once in a while.

I am still pretty young. It’s not like we were elderly, and I am a few years away from death where that expectation would make more sense. They both have college accounts. It’s not a crazy amount, but should I add some to it regularly? It would be less, but still. Please let me know if I am wrong because I genuinely want to know.

Here are the top comments:

LakeGlen4287 says:

You need a lawyer. Whether he left a will or not. There could be assets, policies, pension, social security benefits, etc., that you are entitled to, and also responsibilities for dividing his assets that you need to handle according to the law.

LAnotsoConfidential says:

Did he not have any clear legal direction on what he wanted? At that age I guess he didn’t think it could happen.

Thin5kinnedM0ds5uck says:

If he didn’t have a will, then you may need to go to probate court to be declared administrator of his estate, you do not need a lawyer for this. Best to go talk to the probate court and find out the laws in your state.

His children from his previous relationship are probably entitled to a portion of the estate, and you do not want to find out down the road that you owe them money and then try to figure out how to come up with it.

SoSleepySue says:

In Texas, if my husband dies without a will his kids from his first marriage inherit half of the house. You should talk to a lawyer.

What do you think?