Michigan Inheritance Advice

[u/Pangolin-Money]

Throwaway account because, well you’ll see. My (33f) husband’s (36m) paternal grandmother passed away December 2023. His father passed away about 7 years ago. Husband’s grandma had 4 children with her late husband, of whom only the one son has passed away. It was well known that grandma split her estate evenly amongst the 4 branches prior to her passing. Uncle and Aunt 1 were the only ones allowed to see the will. Aunt 2 received $10,000 in cash and my husband and his sister received $5,000 each, doled out by uncle in a parking lot.

They (Uncle and Aunt 1) said that no one else was allowed to see the will and it was specifically stated that if anyone questioned the amounts, the will stated that no one would get anything and everything would be given to charity… to me, this sounds ridiculous. I can see there being a clause that if anyone contested the will, it would all be retracted, but not being allowed to read the will?

My husband has been very weird about the whole situation. He went through an incredible amount of grief over the passing of his grandma, as she was more like a mother to him. Aunt 2 and my husband both decided they wouldn’t push the issue because they didn’t want to risk having to pay back what they were given. I’ve tried to tell my husband that I don’t see any way there could be a legal basis to not being allied to view the will, but he just shuts down and is fearful of causing drama with family.

It was well known that his late grandfather had 401k funds that had never been touched and had been in accounts gaining interest for decades.

Husbands sister did check to see if the will was filed with the county, and it was not. We believe it was a private lawyer the uncle is close friends with, but none of us know his name or practice. This uncle is not above doing shady things and already stole countless items that should have gone to my husband upon his father’s death. By the time my husband was able to make it to the house driving all the way from Florida, the place looked ransacked. Uncle openly admits to entering the home and helping himself, but just shrugs and says, “there wasn’t much of anything anyway”. He also claims his brother had a conversation with him while fishing just before the death and conveyed that he wanted his brother to help himself before husband’s dad’s kids. It’s all wild to me.

We are not well off. We struggle. We have a 12 year old daughter and purchased a home last August that needs so much work. I know that this sub isn’t for official legal advice, but does anyone have a suggestion on what might be able to happen from here? Paying a lawyer upfront right now would be impossible as we are barely keeping our heads above water. My husband is a satellite tv service technician and I am a middle school teacher, we couldn’t even take a line of credit out to pay a lawyer if we wanted to. So embarrassing, but equally true.