My Mother Passed And I Received A Child Protective Services Letter

Hi there. I saw a BORU post with what seemed like a lot of helpful advice, so I thought I would come here and see some guidance. Sorry if this isn’t right flair, I’ve never posted on this sub before.

Essentially my mother passed suddenly during summer of 2024 and because she passed 1. So young and 2. So unexpectedly; she had no will and nothing written anywhere for guidance on what the hell we were supposed to do. Her partner (not legally married but together over 2 decades) and I have been just talking things out and deciding for ourselves of “This is yours if you want it.” and “Sure I’ll take that lamp, you keep the car.” And etc.

Sometime after her death (maybe a month or two?) I/she/we received a letter in the mail claiming my birth father’s wages from 4/2024 - 6/2024 were garnished $1,800.00 and it needed to be claimed. Now…I had not spoken to my birth father in years, with the exception of politely asking him to not come to my mother’s service. I am also 27 years old no I had no clue that my mother was receiving back-pay or support from him still. I guess it makes sense since they divorced when I was around 8, and he definitely was not contributing financially to anything my entire life. But I’m not sure how any of this works.

I have been on so. many. phone calls. and email threads. about this. I called the number on the letter I was sent, and I was told that I cannot talk to anyone until I prove the person I am trying to speak for is dead. I sent in the death certificate, and was told I am still not authorized any information since I am neither the respondent or the arrear in the case. I try verifying the case number on the online data base, and it doesn’t come up with any searches (but the protection orders my mother made against my father in 2006 show up when I search their names). I speak to another person who tells me the case probably dropped since my mother is dead, but can’t verify that unless I get a lawyer. I speak to SEVEN different lawyers offices who try to quote me 9,000.00$ fees to build a case, but I simply am just trying to speak to a lawyer about what services I even need to pay for. I get trapped in an email thread with the judicial branch of my state (Kansas) where they go back and forth on telling me they can’t tell me private information of the deceased and I’m trying to tell them I am the only existing next of kin of the deceased.

I have been dealing with this for about a month now. It’s all around frustrating just because if they never contacted me in the first place, I would not have perused learning anymore about this. I’m at a point where I’m fine with giving up and letting the state keep the money (that may or may not exist at this point) if it means I can stop dealing with everything lol.

So I guess I’m asking what my next steps should be. I have a friend who knows a good real estate/executor of estate lawyer who is going to reach out and give advice, but I was warned from that same friend that she explained my situation and he said odds aren’t in my favor (whatever that means).

Any advice or input is welcomed! Thanks again.