I need some leagal advice...My father in law passed away in April. He was legally separted from his wife and their divorce was to be final the following month in May. All of his living children live in Michigan, and they live in Alabama. Before we even got down there for the funeral his separated wife started going through all his belongings and distributing them. Her lawyer had contacted us and requested we sign off on everything, we declined. My sister in law was suppose to have been named as the execuator of the state, but since his death was unexpected he hadent taken care of that yet. We want to know if we have any legal claim to anything over her since they were in the process of divorce. Is this something that is even worth pursuing? We don't want to waste our time, effort, and money to go out of state if it isn't worth following through.

The law supports marriage, and will do nearly anything to encourage people to maintain their marriage; e.g., counseling, waiting periods, and more "hoops" people are required to go through before a divorce is finalized. This is done all in an effort to save the marriage.

However, in your FIL's case, all there was was a "separation" and not a divorce. Death "cancels" everything, and despite the fact that you believed that he would have divorced her, the law takes the opposite viewpoint that, at any time, the divorce would have been stopped. As a result, there is no "separation" and no divorce. They are (were) married at the time of his death.

So, under your State laws, she gets the vast majority of his Estate, and the rest is divided among his children.

Good luck.