My Brother Passed Away And His Widow/my Sister In Law Will Not Allow Us To See His Body, Set Up A Funeral, And Will Not Pass On The Rights To His Remains

Location: Arizona and California

It is taking place in Arizona, we are in California, though I’m not sure if that matters

My brother passed away earlier this week, and to put it short, he had separated with his wife about two months ago. He had his own apartment and was talking to a lawyer about a divorce. We are still trying to find that lawyer, but at the moment we have another issue. His widow expressed that she wanted nothing to do with his funeral/service/etc, but now she seems to be cutting us out entirely. She was told by his boss that if she setting up a service, the staff and the kids he worked with (he worked at a center for troubled teens) wanted to set up a collection to help pay, and she said “You’ll have to talk to his family about that”

She has cut off all contact with us, we are only able to communicate secondhand through her mom, who is not giving much more information.

We just want to see him. We want to have a ceremony for him, and his ashes. I’m heartbroken, and livid, and confused at how somebody can be so heartless when they claim to be a Christian, not that that has ever mattered.

Is there any point in a lawyer? Do we have any grounds? Is there anything specific in this scenario that anybody can recommend we try to reach out?

This isn’t even getting into the fact that she may never let us see their kids again, I don’t think we have any grounds to stand on there at all, due to courts typically siding with the mother

Just to be clear as well, I know this is just our side, but my parents have never had any major issues with her. There were some moments or some disagreements, but things were never… broken. It was never a “cut off all contact and ghost” kind of moment waiting to happen, this is just out of the blue. She was scared that we would cur off contact with her before my brother died and after they separated, so I don’t get what’s happening.

My parents aside… My sister and myself are… we genuinely had no issues with her at all. We were always cool with her and the kids love us. Based on what we’ve been hearing about what she’s been saying about us to other people, she seems to be claiming that we are doing things or saying things that can’t be forgiven (I haven’t heard specifics)

If anymore information is needed, let me know please. Thank you.