DEAR BRUCE: My mother-in-law died in 2003, two years after her husband. All the property was put in the five children's names. Two family members lived in the house with her. One of my husband's brothers who lived with her took care of her financial affairs. The one brother contacted us that he needed us to sign a "quick claim" form so he could take a loan on the house to pay for mom's expenses. My husband, the oldest of the brothers, wanted an accounting of her finances, and the brother handling the finances resisted. For quite a while, the two brothers fought over this "quick claim" issue. Finally, my husband signed. He felt if mom needed money just do it. He signed without an accountant. Mom died six days later and still had money left in her account. When it came to divide up the estate, one brother who lived there said he is keeping everything since we signed everything away to him. Are there any time limits on anything we can do? What course would we take if we were entitled to anything? I realize he signed a "quick claim" deed to his brother, but it was with the intention of helping mom out, which was the father's request prior to his death. -- Reader, via e-mail
DEAR READER: It would appear that this is not the tightest family in the world. In your letter, you keep referring to "quick claim." What you mean is a "quitclaim." That means that your husband gave up all of his rights to the property. That is the bottom line. Further, it's been six years since this happened. If there was going to be some action against his brother, it should have been done then. At this point, I would put it behind me and acknowledge a very bad family relationship.