My Father Passed Away And Now My Stepmother Is Showing Her True Colors And Being Greedy

Location: Texas. My father recently passed away and there has been lots of drama after his passing. My stepmother several times went against my father’s wishes, although he did not leave a will, I understand there’s nothing we can do since she is his wife. Refused to cremate him or have his body transported to Illinois where his family (including me) live. Not even including me or my brother in his funeral arraignments. Overall just kept him in her clutches in the very end. The thing that doesn’t sit right with me that my father would always tell me that I would be taken care of since he had life insurance. It turns out I wasn’t on it nor my brother which confuses me even more. My aunts and uncles (father’s siblings) had asked my stepmom if my father had life insurance and straight up said no. She continued to lie to me but all of my father’s family. I feel like she only confessed to his life insurance after my brother went to his job and wanted to confirm it. Mind you, my father and brother as some point worked at the same job. So we knew she had been lying but we were already aware because my father would mention it to us anyways. After the passing of my father the very next day she got rid of his clothes and recently sold his truck. It was just so weird how she was behaving. I didn’t want to money at all, I would have been content with him being buried here in Illinois. But now I don’t get neither. I knew eventually I would have to lawyer up but I don’t where to start, what kind of lawyer do I get ? Do you think it’s worth fighting for his life insurance? It is better to get a lawyer based in Texas or one in Illinois ?

Another thing, my fathers job paid for his funeral expenses and I’m not sure if they paid for the whole funeral or some of it but she still reached out to extended family for money, everyone feels scammed out of money because nobody knew about his job paying for his funeral until I told them. I only knew since we were in the same room when she stated that his job was sending a check directly to the funeral home. This the type of person we’re dealing with.

Edit: Many years ago my father asked my mother for my information such as social security number to be put as a beneficiary. He himself confirmed it to me that I was on there. So please don’t be rude.

Edit: I think people believe that I’m only after his money simply not the case, I was happy with just getting ashes or his body transported to where our family lives. Basically having my father home was the most important thing to be and unfortunately he’s already buried so I cant do anything since she was his wife. She could have kept it all but as long as my father was home I would have been content. It’s her behavior after that has bothered me. It’s like she did not want anyone in our family included in anything surrounding him.