My wife’s brother never claimed his part of their mother’s estate. What do we do now?

2026-02-20 - 11:13

Q. I am helping my wife manage her brother’s estate. While searching through his documents, I found all the paperwork we prepared for him to claim his mother’s life insurance (she died three years ago). We filled out all the paperwork for him while we were doing it for my wife. He even signed them, but just never mailed them in. Similarly, we also prepared all the paperwork for him to claim stock accounts that his mother was the custodian for. He never mailed any of those forms either. Could we submit those documents now, as is, so that the distributions are deposited into his savings account and become part of the estate? Or do we need to wait for the probate process to be completed and then my wife makes a claim as the personal representative? We live in New Brunswick. My brother-in-law had no spouse, no children or family other than his sister (my wife). He had no will. —Edward K. Read More