Important Information For Widows.

I got this information from a kind lady on Facebook and felt compelled to share it especially after I heard a horror story a widow went through recently. Please read, bookmark and share. It would come in handy for someone..........

This is information for widows, especially recent ones, if you know anyone who just lost her husbands. In as much as we pray and believe for long life for our spouses, life still happens. So, information is power. This is it:

1. Immediately upon the passing of a husband, a widow should get a death certificate from the hospital. Insist. If he died in a private hospital, get a government doctor to issue it. If he died at home, same thing. Have a death certificate in his legal name and keep it away from the house or from his family. Make a photocopy and keep with you and keep the original with a lawyer.

2. Go to the probate office in your state. I am made to understand it exists in every town. Get a simple form and file some documents that show that he is dead and list his properties and those you both own together.

3. There is a powerful association of female lawyers in Nigeria called the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA). This is their website in Nigeria www.fida.org.ng. Get in contact with this association wherever you are and get passionate and quality legal representation.

4. Let your first worries not be money. The above stages are not expensive.

5. Do all these without the knowledge of your in-laws or even your own family members.

I am not sure if number 1 and 2 are all the stages to complete, but you would be advised at the probate office if there are any others and of course, a female lawyer from the federation will give you full counsel and free.

The bottom-line is though the death of a loved one, especially a loving husband is painful, be strong for yourself and your children. If it happens to a woman you know, be strong with her and take her through this process and make sure that these documents are kept away from the family and not in her possession. Which means that any lawyer familiar with your husband and his family members is out of the question. Get a neutral one, preferably from the Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA).

This is what will secure her children's inheritance and get the law on her side against the greedy hands of others.