To start things off, I am currently located in California, but the house is located in Kings County, New York. Also, apologies if this was put in the wrong category, I wasn't sure whether to put it in Wills/Trusts or Real Estate

Apologies if this gets a bit ramble-y, my head's still hurting from the bombshell that was dropped on it.

So recently my aunt and uncle contacted me to wish me happy birthday and catch up since we haven't been able to talk much throughout the pandemic (They live in New York, I live in California). This led to a fairly awkward conversation, since I had to break the news to them that I've been fighting cervical cancer for the past year, and was evicted from my condo back in April.

In the conversation that followed, my uncle suggested that I "move back home" to New York. I immediately shot this down, since it meant I'd have to move back with my dad and stepmom. Without going into too many details, my dad and his second wife are the parents of all time, with charming personalities best described as "Like the Balrogs of Morgoth", and my biological mom passed away when I was in high school.

When I explained my reasoning to my uncle, he dropped this bombshell onto me: According to my mom's will, I was supposed to inherit ownership of the family home. Furthermore, he told me that my dad and his wife had been renting the property out for the past 4 years, telling the rest of the family that he was splitting the money with me.

Now, at no point was I ever informed that I was supposed to inherit the house, nor have they ever contacted me regarding any sort of "shared income" from renting the place.

For obvious reasons, I'm pretty heated: The past year has been extremely tumultuous, and I'm just now learning that my dad has told everyone in my family that he's been paying me rental income from a house I was apparently supposed to inherit.

And here's where I'm stuck: I have absolutely no idea what my rights are, or what I'm even able to do. So I guess I'll lay out the questions I have:

• I was still a minor when my mom passed. Would this have invalidated my inheritance of the house? Alternatively, would my dad being the widower take priority over me being the listed beneficiary when it comes to inheritance of the property?

• If it turns out that I'm not on the title for the property, how do I go about rectifying that? Furthermore, is there a statute of limitations that would prevent me from being able to get my name put onto the title with inheritance disputes?

• Do I have any rights to the rental income my dad and his wife have earned from the property?

• Would me initiating no contact/low contact with my dad and his wife nullify any rights I have to the house? Like could they argue that I forfeited my ownership of the house when I left for the military, or that I've abandoned it since leaving New York?

• If I wind up needing to take the legal route, what steps would I need to take to a.) Reclaim ownership of the property, and if possible b.) Reclaim the rental income that my dad claimed he has been paying me?

• Finally, would I be able to go through this process remotely? Due to my medical and financial situation, I'm unable to travel to New York, especially not for an extended period of time. I know many courts held cases remotely via conference calls during the pandemic, is that system still available?

Apologies for asking like a million questions, but this whole situation has been a confusing rabbit hole that's dragged up a lot of bad memories for me. Any and all advice is going to be greatly appreciated.

Edit to clarify: I'm not sure why my mom listed me as the beneficiary instead of my dad, nor are my aunt and uncle. My best guess is that she assumed that I would be well into adulthood before she passed, but since her will was last amended in 2006, we have no way to find out what her reasoning was behind this decision.