Parents had agreement/major trust and made "love will". All was to be split 50/50, inherited assets, life insurance, material belongings, valuable and sentimental. Verbal agreement, not in will of deceased parent nor surviving. Almost positive, sister has manipulated father into changing most or all assets to her and to give her permission to take/have now lots of mother's valuable jewelry and all parents' belongings ( $ & sentimental), and has taken tons without his knowledge. Do I have any right to this info., changes to financial inheritance documents, amount of annual gifting, his health status, as parents always wanted both of us to have and work as a team. Does she have the right to not allow me to see him (only a few X/per year) & to never be alone with him for even 30 seconds. I am honest, loving, he & I were very close, there has been no abuse or any reason to withhold this info & keep me from seeing him, seemingly other than that she has/is manipulating him to give all or most assets ($ & material) to her, and change gifting plan of over 20 yrs (50/50) to her likely getting to give her 4X as much (family of 4 vs I am single, no children). Do I have right to know? Legal recourse? Any kind of laws or advocacy around such a thing? I have no funds... medically disabled, receive SSDI (Federal Social Security Disability Income) talking near poverty level, unable to pay for basic necessities. Free legal services in NY don't take cases on this topic. Interested to know if legal recourse/if I have legal rights, regardless of unable to pay for attorney. Would consider 1-hr Attorney time. Thank you!
Is there a pastor, relative or friend who might mediate a conversation with your sister to find out what is happening? Start soft and sweet if you want to avoid trouble. Tell her you want to make sure she is getting the help she needs to take care of your father.
We know nothing about you. You may be a perfect saint. But sometimes we deal with our own siblings who contribute nothing, but are always ready to criticize. If you are not that person, do what you must to protect your father's interests.
Wills unless filed with the state are private legal documents. Once the will holder passes, only then are all heirs mentioned in the will required to be notified.
The only way to override this, is if the ward/will holder WANTS to share this information with family or friends or heirs or whoever, and has stated in these documents that the information should be shared in the case they are incapacitated. In some families where there is no ill will or contention, the information is shared before the ward/will holder becomes incapacitated by they themselves passing out copies of the documents. Or, if the ward/will holder expressed verbally that the information should always be shared, the POA can made the decision on the basis of respecting the desires of the ward to share the information.
Angel
To clarify. Your sister does not have power "over" your father. He at some point gave her the power to act FOR him, because he trusted her to use it properly.
So why is it that you have lost trust in her to do that? What makes you, as you say, almost positive that she is asset-stripping now and plotting to downsize your inheritance later?
You don't say what state of mind your father is in. Does he have Alzheimer or Dementia? If so, did he give your sister POA before he was diagnosed?
If he is in his right mind, then the answer to all your questions is no, you don't have any rights to know anything that your father doesn't want to tell you. Everything is going to depend on his situation. You say that you are disabled, and are unable to pay for basic necessities. It could be that your father is aware of your situation, and doesn't want to burden you further with his care, so has put your sister in charge of everything for good reason. She might be the one best suited to care for him, and if that be the case, he could very well want to give her the means to do just that. It takes a LOT of money and energy and work to care for a senior, and so he might be turning his lot over to her for his care. You should not begrudge your sister the means to care for your father, since you can't do it. Though I have POA for my father, my brother and sister in law are his caregivers and dad is paying them, as well as helping them fix up their home ...using his inheritance to make his final years as comfortable as possible. That's what his money is for as far as I'm concerned.
You say they had a "love will"? If by that you mean they just talked among themselves when they were younger and healthier as to what they wanted to do later in life, but never got around to writing anything down, then their love was misguided and the surviving spouse is in no way bound by that "love will". Circumstances change, and your dad's definitely has. So what you do depends on the state of mind your dad is in now...and if you feel your sister is doing him wrong and that you could do a better job by him.... Good luck, however you head.
If he is not in his right mind, and your sister has put him in a nursing home and is not really caring for him but rather just taking his money and ripping him off, then you really should talk to a lawyer about your rights. If you can't afford a lawyer, I'd start first with your local aging organization...they've heard it all and could better advice you of steps you could take... Good Luck...