I never recevied my inheritance?

My mom died in 1997. At the time, my 2 brothers, sister, and I were all under 18. In the will, her boyfriend and sister were named executors of her estate. As well, it stated that any money us kids were to receive would be held by the executors until we turned of age. It also stated that the executors could invest the money in any way they saw fit without liability.
As we each turned 18, we waited to hear from someone about our money- we lived in the same place before and after her death with our dad- but no one ever contacted us. The youngest is now 20 and still nothing.
The boyfriend died about a year after my mother, and his family has made themselves unavailable. We were finally able to get in contact with her sister, but she claims she didn't even know about the will.
I'm positive there is money for 2 reasons: 1) My mom told the family she was leaving us money- the amount however, is questionable 2) she received a large inheritance less than a year before her death.

I would like to add that we don't have much money so please don't suggest a lawyer...we looked at legal aid, but they don't cover this kind of case.

You should check the probate records regarding the estate, and see how much money their was, and who was in charge of it. From there, you can see what happened by following the money, hopefully. If it looks promising you might be able to hire an attorney on contingency fee basis.

Dana (attorney)

This is a tough one. Do you have a copy of the will or remember who the lawyer was? You can go to your states Bar Assoication. They have lawyers who do pro bono cases (free)and as long as it isn't criminal, they can help you. They can at least point you in the right direction. Someone who have to be monitoring the executors so they didn't blow all the money on themselves and used it for the kids. Good luck.

It also stated that the executors could invest the money in any way they saw fit without liability. - Herein lies your problem.

You need to contact an estate atty and see if there is a way to get a copy of the will and see what if anything was infact left to the kids. If the boyfriend invested the money and lost it it's all gone. However if he invested it , it should been held in trust for the kids. Only an atty can help you now.

If what you are saying is accurate, you have no case. Your mother had every right ,in her will, to assign whoever she so desired to be the estate executor, and she did. In fact she even put a caveat (in the will) that removed your right to sue the estate and estate executor if they mismanaged the estate wealth.

You also never mention whether it was supposed to be divided up equally among the living children.

It's not required that you get an equal share of anything. If you're not mentioned in the will, you get 0.

don't need a lawyer to start. Call teh probate clerk for the county she died in and see if there was a will filed for probate. If so, there is a final distribution of the assets; and who was holding what if anything. If there was no will filed, see if there was an intestate estate filed; again, will show what was distributed and to whom; or if there was an estate affidavit filed (in some states for small estates).

If none of these things were done, you can talk to the probate clerk for general info; but at that point the only one that can help is a lawyer