I'm glad this worked out for you and I hope it means you're able to preserve a healthy relationship for your children.

My mother (and only parent/immediate family) died when I was a teenager. The man she was "engaged" to literally kept everything. Things that had been hers and ours since I was a little kid, way before they met. Christmas decorations that we put up together every year since I was born to the fucking bath towels. Everything I have of her I took I smuggled through a window when he wasn't home. I have only a few boxes of items and they aren't even keepsakes. It's just what I was able to grab from drawers.

Reading your original post made me cry and feel so much for your sons. I hope that you feel relieved and I want to say from someone who lost a parent young that you are incredible in so many ways even if you don't feel like it, even though it is unfair that you're in this position to begin with.

I wish all of you the best lives going forward. Time doesn't always heal the way you'd like, but you do adjust. Remember to be kind to yourself and take care of you too.