My fiancé lost his father in 2022. He lived with a woman who claimed to be his wife, but there are no marriage records and NYS does not recognize common law. How do we obtain financial paperwork on the deceased father? There was believed to be a life insurance policy on the father with my fiancé as beneficiary, but the "wife" will not supply any sort of will or information on the will to my fiancé. What do we do? What rights do we have?
You need to file with probate before the wife gets there first that you are family and willing to be executor