$$ from childs settlement used to pay for Dad's funeral??

[Hulahulachica]

I'll make this as short as I possibly can.

My daughter's father was killed in a drunk driving accident on 12-21-05. A suit was brought forth by my Ex's parents FOR his two minor children(my daughter and his other child from a second marriage) and any monetary award was to be for "the use and benefit of the decedent's minor children." A settlement was agreed upon(rather than going thru a jury trial) with a final offer from the defendant's insurance company of $85,000. The money was to be divided evenly between the two girls. That's a total of $47,500 each.
Here's where the problems start. The Attorney sent my daughter and I an itemized statement of how the monies was to be dispersed. The statement shows about $4,300 coming out of each child's settlement check to pay for their father's funeral expenses.

1-Does TN have any type of law in place that gives a certain amount that can be taken out of a settlement check to pay for funeral expenses? (Here in VA its a $2000 limit) Or can whatever the Atty. sees fit be taken out?

2-Can children be held responsible for a debt that someone else incurred? **the funeral home sent me copies of the bill/paperwork that was filled out AND SIGNED by my ex's father-and he agreed to pay for the entire funeral.......... within 30 days(of 12-22-05).

So why are two girls being held responsible for their Dad's funeral expenses????Thats not right....is it? This is very important also: The TOTAL funeral bill is roughly $8,600. But because my Ex's parents didnt pay within 30 days as they stated they would-about $2,100 of the $8,600 IS LATE FEES!!!!!!!! and I do have copies of all figures from the funeral home. So my third question would be:

3- If,in fact, these children can legally be made to use money out of their settlement checks to pay for their dad's funeral(in which their Grandfather has already signed a document stating HE would pay for it), do they in fact have to also pay for the late fees that were incurred by the Grandparents???? Does TN have some sort of law that states ANYTHING can be taken out of a settlement check????

I hope someone out there can give me some SOLID advice. Legal aid here would take weeks before they got to me-the waiting list is unreal! and if I were to hire an atty here, he would get one third of the already crappy settlement my daughter is getting-and quite honestly-I just cant see letting anyone else take more money from her!!!
Again-sorry for the long and drawn out post-but PLEASE-anyone out there at all that can help-I would so much appreciate it!!!!