We have some strife right now. By we I mean my spouse. This feels really long, but here goes!
FIL passed away after a short bout with cancer last year. There was six months warning, no surprise, he always expected to go relatively young because this cancer runs in his family. He remarried 9 years before, and although she was much younger and is nothing but an alcoholic party girl well past her prime, she made him happy and DW and SIL accepted her. DW is also adopted, this will come into play later.
FIL was wealthy once upon a time -- he retired early at 45 (planned out because he expected to die young) and then spent the next 22 years traveling or living in the family cabin playing golf. He also made sure his ex (DW and SIL's mom) was taken care of after the divorce. It's very likely there was little left and both DW and SIL felt any cash left should go to Step Mom since she was the spouse and he was intestate. Oddly, there was no will which is very unlike FIL, a finance junkie, but c'est la vie.
The problem is the cabin. Grandpa built the cabin many moons ago on a bit a land. A few moons later a golf course was put in. Gramps owned five lots with the cabin on one, and they went up quite a bit in value once the area turned into a gold resort in the mountains. This was all left to FIL, with the intention of it staying in the family. FIL and step mom were living there full time, and neither sibling wanted her booted out. With no will, the state's law bequeathed the property to all three more or less equally (I can't remember the percentages off the top of my head). No biggie, both siblings said let step mom live there until she dies, then we get to keep the family cabin in the family.
Step mom hired a lawyer to get full ownership. The first attempt was to disown DW as an heir since she is adopted. Didn't work, all that paperwork from 35 years ago was in order. Then drunken phone calls to SIL began, all of them boiling down to her (step mom's) love for FIL was something SIL could never understand because she was incapable of loving. Attempts to try and tell her that there was no interest in kicking her out, and everyone was willing to set it up so she could legally remain there and ownership converted to the siblings after her death, fell on deaf ears.
SIL is convinced, as is DW to a lesser extent, that step mom wants to sell the property and keep the money. It is worth over a million dollars. I think property taxes may be the issue, and she wants to mortgage it or sell off one or two of the empty lots to cover taxes for the next few years. Unfortunately, she would drink most of the money from a sale, but they could set something up with the money from a lot sale to keep that from happening. SIL would never sell the lot with the house on it, but DW isn't emotionally invested in it and would be willing to sell it all if SIL agreed and if the money was divided as it should be by law. DW isn't even really interested in the money, but wants to make sure SIL and nephews are taken care of because she recently escaped a nasty, nasty marriage. Step mom has been sending a steady barrage of legal notices as she tries different things to get them to sign over their stakes in the property.
The latest is that there is a court hearing, in a state we are nowhere near, next month because step mom is trying to get a judge to give her the whole thing. DW has washed her hands of it. She doesn't want to spend on a lawyer when she simply doesn't care enough about the property. DW told SIL that she won't sign anything over to step mom, just to show the siblings were united a front, but that's the extent of it. If SIL wins, DW has already pretty much decided to sign her share over to SIL so the house stays in the family but there is no divided ownership. I'm the spouse so it doesn't really concern me. I just hate drama and will be glad when the mailman quits knocking on our door with certified letters. This is also pretty much where DW is at. DW and SIL's mother is also in a terminal stage of cancer, so dealing with a washed up barfly's shenanigans isn't really what they need in their mental space right now.
Weird thing -- in the legal paperwork step mom turned into the court saying why the property should go to her, the first bullet point is to assure the judge that although she knew FIL before he was divorced, she never had an affair with him. Oddly, both SIL and DW still have the very long letter from their father that he sent each of them when he announced the divorce, where he admitted to a very long affair (years) with his soon to be new wife and asked their forgiveness. Not sure what the judge will think of her lying about something that neither sibling would have even thought to bring up if she hadn't first. (DW did forward a copy of her letter to SIL's lawyer.)
My life is simple. When dad died, it all went to my mom. My mom has two small life insurance policies for the same amount, one for sis, one for me. Sis and I have discussed the rest (a 50/50 split, according to my mom's will.) I don't want any of mom's junk, so when she goes sis can have her pick, then the grandkids can have a go at it, then we'll let an estate company and real estate agent handle the rest. If sis throws a stink (doubtful), she can have it all.