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My mother passed away two months ago. I lived with her, because she had medical conditions, for pretty much my entire life.

I recently found out she and my father never divorced. She and he had been separated for 30 years because he was abusive, not that it probably applies.

She had no will. Is there any way I can obtain her funds? I haven't even had a memorial for her because I was unemployed. (She required nearly constant care.)

I'm in Alabama in the USA.

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Sadly, her assets will go into probate, and a judge/probate master will have to rule on how they're disbursed. Typically someone will be appointed as Administrator to the mother's estate. The administrator will contact all creditors, assemble and inventory/appraise the assets (i.e. furniture, car, house, bank accounts, etc.) and pay funerary expenses.

Since she died intestate, there will be certain specific rules about who inherits the proceeds. The best avenue for the OP is to petition the court to appoint her as administrator of the estate.

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  • How does one petition the courts for that? Do I need a lawyer?
    – Redchigh
    Commented Oct 17, 2015 at 15:37
  • Check with the county probate court. There's likely to be a pretty extensive website with various bits of information.
    – mkennedy
    Commented Oct 19, 2015 at 21:50
  • by the way...my condolences. I'm sorry for your loss.
    – dwoz
    Commented Oct 20, 2015 at 2:41

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