It gets worse
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My father didn't have a new will written leaving his 1985 will as his last will and testament.
My sister being deceased, my brother and I inherit the estate in half shares.
I assumed my father had a newer will leaving everything to my brother.
The MetLife policy started as a life insurance policy and was converted to annuities when MetLife went public. It lists no beneficiary.
The estate my cousin wants reopened is my mother's estate. My father's estate hasn't closed.
My mother's will had a boilerplate clause saying I would inherit nothing for reasons best known to her.
My brother will probably inherit the MetLife policy.
On the other hand, he's taking the house and will have to buy me out.
This explains why my cousin has the ability to send me money directly from the estate.
My father's will actually did set up trusts for the three of us. It's awful but all of the trustees are deceased.
We were to inherit if and only if our mother predeceased him or died at the same time.
I don't know why none of this was explained to me by my cousin months ago but maybe she assumed I knew it.
My brother, for his part, would like to inherit everything, from what I can tell.