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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote]Please do meet with a lawyer. Figure out what your options are, and then figure out the best way to execute them. You are under ZERO legal obligation to let your cousin live in your house indefinitely, but you may have to work with the courts (and possibly the Marshals) to evict her. That can take some time and does require written notice. It would be better if you could come to an agreement with her instead[/quote]

You should meet with a lawyer and let Mary and Roy know you are doing so. It would be taking the high road if you were to suggest to Mary and Roy that they should also see a lawyer, but not the same one you are seeing. It would be a conflict of interest for the lawyer to advise all three of you. They should have a lawyer who is representing their interests and you should have your own lawyer representing your interests.

Even after reading through the cultural explanation above, I do find it hard to believe that a woman would have such a preference for her nephew's daughter over her own daughter. I love and respect my great aunt, but I can't imagine her liking me better than her own daughter. And I would feel really weird if she died and left me so much more than she left her own children.

Putting myself in the shoes of the OP, I would feel that a disservice had been done and I would talk to the lawyer about redistributing the estate so that Mary and Roy got most of it. That's just how I would feel about it, obviously. I just don't think I could move forward in my life knowing how oddly unbalanced this inheritance was. I am not at all suggesting that you should do this, OP, just saying that it would make me feel so weird that I don't think I could ever get any pleasure from owning that house.
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How you feel is irrelevant.  Her godmother wanted her to have the house and that's what's important.  Giving away any portion of her inheritance will have tax implications and should not be taken lightly.  She should respect her godmother's wishes and so should Mary and Roy.  End of story.[/quote]

A lawyer would be able to give good advice about whether or not there would be tax implications. There might not be any, depending on the facts of the situation. They should all be talking to lawyers.

We don't really know that it was Thelma's idea to leave the house to Larla. And it does sound like a lot of the family's wealth was generated by Thelma's husband's hard work. I bet his pay checks and maybe his own physical labor were used over the years for repairs and general upkeep of the family home. He wasn't sitting around doing nothing all day.

And yes, how I feel surely is irrelevant to Larla, and I mentioned above that I didn't think it was. However, I do think a lot of people would feel uncomfortable about walking away with so much more of the family wealth than the actual immediate family of the deceased. I certainly would not want to live in that house under these circumstances, I just don't think I'd be able to feel happy there.

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