Suing over unjust inheritance distribution

Question

My grandfather owned a total of 60 acres of land in multiple places. After his death and with the lack of personal will, the land by law was supposed to be distributed equally among all of his children. Among those children was my father. The whole legal process started well, however, because of deceit and trickery (including my father's naivety), almost all of the land went to one of my uncles.

My father never really actively pursued the right to regain back some of that land except for calling my uncle on multiple occasions, which resulted in hanged phone from my uncles side.

Few months ago we had a family tragedy in which my father passed away. In the meanwhile, I became financially stable and started entertaining the idea of pursuing justice and regain a fair share of the my grandfather's land from my uncle.

However, I have two questions:

• Should I first try and speak with my uncle, asking for him for a fair share of my grandfather's inheritance, but also mentioning to him that I'm also prepared to sue him in court for that?
• Should I get a lawyer and directly go to court, suing my uncle for the unjust outcome without any prior discussions with him?

In the first case, I'm afraid that it could result in him suing me for extortion of something which was already signed to him (in this case, the fair share of my grandfather's land that should've belong to my father).

I'm mostly asking so I could get my thoughts sorted out and decide what to do next.

Answer 1

You need to speak to a lawyer.

First of all inheritance laws vary greatly from one location to the next, so you need someone who is familiar with your local laws and processes. You also need to collect all paperwork that's related to the inheritance. Typically an estate need to get "settled" and there is an official statement that (often issued by the town or a local court) that spells out all the details and conditions (if any). Try to document any type of follow up discussion or dispute in as much detail as possible including dates, means of interaction, topics, etc.

Once you have all this, have a lawyer or equivalent look it over. They then can assess the legal situation and advice you on the best course of action.