My husband passed away in NYS a few months ago leaving everything to me. There is a wrongful death lawsuit pending. His two children are contesting.

At the time of his death he was estranged for over a year with one of the children and refused to talk to or see her. The other child had a normal relationship with her father. Neither of them provided care for him during his illness. The wrongful death lawsuit seems to be the issue and the reason the children are in opposition to my being named executor of his estate even though my appoint was expressed in his will. My relationship with my husband's children is no good. They are very aggressive and bullying. There was a citation hearing held recently where they failed to show up until after the judge rendered his decision to allow me to be the executor of the estate. Within one hour of the decision, they showed up at court and the judge allowed them two weeks to retain an attorney even though they were aware of the proceeding and served personally. Why would the judge allow them additional time? Do they have a right to current or future assets when it was not in the will?