Dad Died, Family Lied About Him Having Kids.

I got a phone call from my brother. He told me that our father had passed away. He was contacted by our dads girlfriend. She told him that she came home from work that morning and found him deceased on the bathroom floor. She suspected a drug overdose or a heart attack.

My brother was the only point of contact. I wasn't contacted by anyone but my brother. He was never asked to come to the funeral home or what we wanted to do with the body. He was told that our fathers brother had claimed himself as "next of kin" to the coroner.

A few days later my brother was informed that our father had been cremated and his girlfriend had his remains at her home.

My brother contacted dads girlfriend to see if he can have our fathers '65 Chevy Pickup truck since that was the only thing he owned in his name. And a project they worked on together. The girlfriend told him she would get back to him when everything settled down.

My brother was in contact with dad's brother, his wife, and the girlfriend regularly to see when would be a good time to come and get the truck. Both of them kept giving him the run-around and never a straight answer. my brother made another call to the girlfriend and was informed that "she was tired of looking at it" so she had our dads brother send his step-son to come and pick it up. So my fathers step-nephew?

My brother contacted the step-nephew and told him that he can come and get the truck from him. step-nephew responded saying that "your dad told me years ago if anything ever happened to him that I am to keep that truck. I already have it transferred into my name. Your dad told me you are not responsible enough And he would never leave you something Like that" And some more hurtful and disrespectful words.

I was informed about this situation. I reached out to his girlfriend by phone and told her I would like to retrieve my fathers remains and talk to her about my father. She agreed to meet with me. She ended up not being able to meet that day and we talked on the phone instead.

She told me that we can meet next weekend and that I can take some of his remains to share with my brother and sister, that my father has a bag of photos of my children and family that she would like me to take and that I can have the blanket that is on his bed.

After I got off the phone with the girlfriend I sent a text message to the step-nephew and told him I would like to arrange a time and place to meet and take the truck. He responded by telling me “hey, check this out I don't know what makes you guys think that you're entitled to that truck and I don't know how are you guys got my fucking number but you need to lose it. (He sent my brother a drunk text saying how much he loved him and to reach out if he ever needed anything is how he got the number) That truck is in my name. It was left to me as a gift. Your dad did not want nothing like that to go to your brother. He talked about it to me many times so tell your emo brother to get the fuck out of peoples ears and if he calls my mom again, me and him are gonna have a fucking problem. You guys gave up on your dad because he was an addict and now he fucking overdose and you think you're entitled to shit instead of you being there and helping him through all this bullshit no, my family was there for him”

The step-nephew then sent me a photo of the trucks vehicle registration to prove to me that he had the truck transferred into his name.

I sent a report of fraudulent registration through the DMV website stating that my father passed away and there's no possible way that he could have signed over the pink slip and gave the step-nephew the truck as a gift nearly 5 weeks after his death.

I asked my brother how he would have done any of that without a death certificate or a pink slip. He said that he was told "the pink slip was left in the glove box".

My father has been an auto mechanic for well over 30 years. There is not a scenario on earth where he would have ever left a pink slip in the glove box.

Next day the girlfriend called me to tell me that she did not want to give me the blanket off of my dads bed because her dogs sleep on it every night and it would make them depressed if she took it away from them. She told me that instead I could have the Eagles Jersey in the closet that she previously told me the step-nephew had claimed.

I contacted County Vital Records department to see if my fathers death certificate was available. I was informed that it was available and that nobody has requested a copy of the record.

I contacted the County Sheriff Coroner. I was informed that she handled my fathers case. She said that her report shows that she asked both the girlfriend and dads brother if our dad had children and both of them said "NO". She said that her database also does not show any relatives. She told me that there were issues with this case because on our dads only filed legal document, which is his drivers license, that his last name was spelled incorrectly. She told me that I could contact the Civil Courts or make a Report with the City Police Department.

I called the police department. I explained my situation with not being named as next of kin and also that the truck was taken and "gifted" to his step-nephew after his death and was informed that I needed to follow up with my DMV report and then the DMV would take legal action if necessary and I should contact Civil Courts as well.

I contacted the DMV Investigations Department. They informed me that they are extremely back logged and it would be well into January before my case was even assigned to anyone. They told me that I need to come up with any and all documentation that I possibly can to prove that the truck should belong to me or my brother and it would be difficult, and nearly impossible without a will.

I have had very little contact with my father in the last 15 years because of his drug addiction. He met my baby son 14 years ago and I told him that whenever he's ready to get clean, let me know and we can move forward, but i could not be an enabler or introduce my child to a relationship that was unstable.

My brother is 9 years younger than I am and was too little to understand what living with a drug addict was like so he decided to restore and keep a relationship with him since he was about 10 years old.

I do not know if there is anything I can do legally. The local attorney wants $800 for just a consult. Other than my bother wanting something meaningful that came from my dad, I don't even know what kind of justice I am looking for. I just don't think they should get away with pretending we didn't exist.

When my dad was sober, he was a wonderful father. The first 14 years of my life he was my best friend. I am angry at him for dying without trying to get better first. But I do not believe I was raised to be okay with being lied to, stolen from and completely forgotten.

Do I have a case here? Or are my feelings just hurt?