My mother’s step-siblings sued my mom for a larger portion of her father’s estate. She finally settled when her “share” of the inheritance was completely gone from legal fees and she didn’t want to spend her own money continuing to fight for now nothing.

Long story, - I’m not good with the technical terminology, sorry! My grandpa got remarried in his 70’s to some lady he met at a bar because he didn’t want to be alone anymore (my grandmother passed away 20 years before). She had 5 kids, he had 1 (still alive). She ended up passing away and he sold everything and moved in with my parents. He gave her children half of what he had - her “share” of their estate, even though he was the only one to come into the marriage with money. After he gave his step kids half of what he had, he named my mom as the sole beneficiary on his life insurance and put her on his checking account. He spoke to a lawyer and had his will changed so my mom would get everything. Unfortunately he died unexpectedly before he signed it (they didn’t think there was a rush so the lawyer was working on it for several weeks). After he passed, my mother (the executor) gave them 5/6ths of the estate because that was what was still technically in the will (even though my grandfather thought she was supposed to get half and they were supposed to get half if he and his wife died at the same time - he didn’t realized “evenly distributed” didn’t mean evenly between families - he found that out when he went to get the will changed to her being the sole heir). My mom did keep the life insurance because she was the only beneficiary listed. Instead of turning down the money because they already received their inheritance when their mom died (the right thing to do), they sued her. They wanted 100% of everything including his life insurance because she kidnapped him and tricked him into signing it over and therefore didn’t deserve any of it. My mother is one of the nicest people on the planet and loved her dad, she didn’t “trick” him into anything. They sued her in the state she lived in, the state they lived in, and the state my grandpa lived in with their mother. My mom finally agreed (after several, horrible years) to share the life insurance money so they got 5/6ths of everything and she got 1/6th which all went to legal fees. She just wanted it to end, it was killing her. It still took almost a year, but they finally agreed when their lawyer threatened to quit since he wasn’t getting paid until it was settled and the estate unfroze. She only met them once, at their mother’s funeral. They didn’t go to their mother’s wedding nor did they make it to my grandfather’s funeral. They claimed they held their own funeral for him because he was “like a father” even though they barley knew him and they were all already grandparents when their mom married him (he was apparently helping them financially for a few years and that was “father like” I guess?). Side note, my grandfather always hated them, even before his wife passed. He swore they were trying to kill him after his wife’s funeral - which was part of the reason he moved in with my parents.