My Brother Passed Away Yesterday

My brother who was residing in Samana passsed away the day before yesterday. His ex-wife showed up the same day at his house (she doesn't live there) going through his belongings but a friend of my brother was there and stopped her. My brother was divorced from this Dominican woman and has a child together with her.(She has the custody).

I don't really know much about the circumstances only that I would imagine the child would inherit together with my brothers daughter from a previous marriage. I don't imagine the mother of the boy can have any claim to the papers of his house (the deed). I also believe there may be a will leaving my eldest brther in the States as an executor of the will. The deceased had been in bad health for some time and was not totally unprepared, even though we think that he may not have received adecuate care in the small town he lived.

Right now everything seems to be a big mess, my other brother is preparing to travel to DR together with my niece to take care of the funeral arrangements (probably cremation) and the legal matters. None of them speak any Spanish, though (I do but I can't travel at this time). I suppose there'll be English-speaking lawyers to help them sort put the problem.

I'd be very grateful for any information on this matter.

Thank you so much Ken et al for your advice and the names and telephone numbers! I will now forward this information to my other brother who will travel there and also to a friend who is down there.
Yes, the ex-wife and some of her relatives showed up at his doorstep almost instantly after his death. I suppose that's what they would do there.

Another thing that I found out today is that they had performed an autopsy but would not divulge the results to a foreigner! Certainly if a daughter, for example, showed up and asked they would have to tell her, no matter her nationality?

Once more, thank you all.

Thank you very much.
it looks like the friend down there has already contacted a lawyer; however, I have forwarded all information and rec?mmendations to him. I feel a little more at ease now.

The services of the Guzman Brothers have now been engaged and my niece in Florida seems to be the one in charge. The information I was able to obtain from this board (ken,others) has been instrumental in getting things a little bit more organized. It's probably too late now to salvage any of his belongings from being stolen from the house but then again, that may not be a big issue.

It may well be that the friend of my brother who was present at the time of his death had already retained the services of a lawyer by the same name. If that's the case should I be worried?

AFAIK the arrangements have been made for the autopsy, transfer of the body and cremation in Santo Domingo and that his ashes will be shipped to Miami as flight freight. It's pretty much out of my hands as my other brother who lives in USA and my niece, his adult daughter in Florida have already had a videoconference with the lawyer and money has been wired.

I'm sorry if there has been a confusion.

The people in the village are saying that my brother was poisoned. The autopsy results will be made known in 30 days.

it looks like the divorce was not final but thatthere is a pre-nupt. The ex-wife, son, cousins and uncles and aunts have moved into the house: I was told that the Dominican law the children had always the right to live in the house of a deceased parent. I have no problem with that, but we're just waiting to find out the cause of death: it was not a diabetic coma as we suspected.

The ex-wife had been married before, to another American much older than herself. He also died.

The marriage didn't take place in DR but in a European country and the pre-nup was also drawn and registered there. All the documents are being translated and legalized at this moment.

My brother was a US citizen. Would his son be able to get a US citizenship as well even if he was not born in USA?

Thank you!
I'm not directly involved in the process but I wanted to know what to expect.

Fabio J. Guzman said:

I'm not sure we have been retained for this matter. The "Guzman brothers'" are not members of the Guzman Ariza law firm. There are two brothers, both lawyers, whose last name is also Guzman, who practice in the area.

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They just got the name wrong, initially, I think. I have just finished talking to my other brother in USA and he says it's you guys who have been retained to take care of all the legal issues pertaining my brother's death in Saman?. This forum has been of great help for us.