My mother has had dementia for 3 years. I just found out my mother has signed over the deed to her house over to my sister. My mom told me the other day that she signed a bunch of papers on her house concerning the deed. she doesn't know why or how come my sister did that. I also went to her filing cabinet and noticed all my moms bank statements and will is gone. I've confronted my sister and she just tells me to don't worry about it. Also when I asked her to bring my moms bank statements back she told me no. Isn't this illegal and if it is what type of attorney can I call for help
The “good”would be that mom’s dementia is such that mom cannot handle $ anymore, so there was fraud, etc worries so Sissy condensed banking to deal with things. Maybe put property into a Trust so it could bypass probate which is usually a good estate move. But I’ll bet a case of Prosecco, this was not what happened but instead Sissy did a $ grab. And this will become an issue once mom become more frail and needs caregiving and a facility.
I’ll bet your mom is not sitting on a nest egg of $300K and a home worth 700K; mom does not have a coterie of family and friends and church members who all can devote whatever 24/7 time needed to caregive and run errands for mom for your mom’s foreseeable future till forever. I’ll bet your mom is like more elderly in the US…… mom has a modest home, maybe worth 300K and the average Social Security monthly income of around $1,200/1800 a month and maybe a smallish savings of 50K. And that dear Frank Paz will pose very real issues with what your Sister has done by signing over your moms house to her and ditto for moms banking and other financials for the day when mom needs caregiving help.
Here’s my thoughts as to why it’s a problem and why and what it means to you as the dutiful son:
- mom has gifted her home to Sissy. That “gifting” will make mom totally ineligible for Medicaid to pay for any custodial program for her. So no State custodial AL, MC or NH eligibility for mom due to gifting.
- gifting places a transfer penalty on any LTC type of Medicaid application. It’s set by # of days too. It’s a division type of math problem based on the day rate State pays for room&board & property value by tax assessor starting date of the Medicaid application. So State that pays $200 a day with house value of $275K is 1,375 days of ineligibility. 1,375 days is almost 4 years of ineligibility!
Sissy has got to realize that as she did this is, it is now 100% her problem, her purse, her wallet to pay for all of moms costs of care should caring for mom get way waaaaay beyond what she can do at home or mom runs out of her own $. Moms gonna be ineligible for facility Medicaid. All property records are keystrokes for a caseworker to find out about. That gifting will be there looming as a penalty for 5 years from the date of the filing Medicaid application for almost all States. It’s not your problem. No es su problema Paz! So if Sissy comes asking you for $ to pay for help for your mom, think hard before you give Sissy a penny.
- if mom was diagnosed with dementia as others have said she may not have been competent or cognitive enough to understand what she signed. That Sissy basically “took advantage of a very adult”.
This is a very real crime. APS / Adult Protective Services can be asked to do an investigation on this.
The issue on this - imho not an attorney opinion - is that mom may not yet have had “harm” from the actions done by your Sister. If mom is still living at the house that once was hers, getting her groceries, all her bills are getting paid, utilities are on, she’s clean & fed, APS might not find problems. Sissy can say “Mom forced me to take the house, $ in the bank as a gift” yada, yada. It’s hard to counteract stuff like this. There’s no real harm to your mom…….yet. The harm will be when mom does not have the $ to pay for AL or MC or NH as there is no house sale $ as the house was gifted and $ in moms bank accounts was drained by Sissy.
So what to do? What do you think Sissy actions are all about? Is she a greedy witch and already has been coming to you to pay for things for mom? OR Did she do this to streamline assets & $ to get all assets outside of probate and Medicaid lookback?
Gena / Touch Matters
on the notary, notary alone really not good enough. Notary really just has to look to see if the person signing is the same name as on the documents. And even then that has issues, eg. JR has same name as Sr and the document doesn’t specify which. I’ve always been told if it’s important, ya gotta have it witnessed by two and they cannot be family or in anyway related or were once related ( no ex husbands) or could ever themselves benefit.
if Sissy is POA for your mom she should never ever do things that directly benefit herself. POA is a legally recognized entity and responsibility, not to be taken casually. So house signed over to her (sissy) name would be total breach of her fiduciary duty as POA, but if she got mom to sign it over to her daughter not the same type of breach of fiduciary duty imho. Still will be an eventual clusterF should mom run out of $ and needs it to pay for care or mom files for Medicaid, but it’s probably more Sissy is clueless & greedy POA imo.
Again OP don’t let your Sisters ill thought out actions become your problems and your costs.
There is nothing in the post that indicates that she signed over the house to herself as POA. The mother may have signed it when she was still legally competent (with or without dementia).
Some POA documents may not prevent making real estate transactions or gifts even to the POA.
There are questions to be asked to the sister and/or a lawyer but guess I'm saying is don't jump to conclusions based on the little information we have to go on.
Please make a police report and get yourself to a lawyer who specializes in elder law.
I've seen this sort of thing happen many times over the years with families I've worked for. One sibling decides to get cute and sneak their mom or dad with dementia down to a lawyer on the DL to change a will or switch a POA. My husband's friend is lawyer who specializes in estate planning. He also does elder law work. When an elderly client is brought in to change a will or a POA he requires that there be legal paperwork stating that the former POA (if the reason for the change is other than them being deceased) and heirs to a will are aware of the changes. Their permission is not necessary, only their awareness. This practice prevents a whole lot of family problems.
Please have a consultation with a lawyer.
i’m making bold statements based on little fact (Will,Poa,etc). Find any attorney to consult with. Some may give you a free consult. Elder abuse cases can be lengthy.
Some siblings are very greedy & sneaky and think they’re entitled to everything.
Years later, when I took on the role of her cargiver, the situation developed where Medicaid was the best solution to assist me in keeping her in the family home. There was no issue regarding the property, as it was way past the five year look-back period.
Each year, I would go over important documents with mom: POA, Health Care Proxy, Will, Funeral Arrangements, Obituary, and Deed, to make sure she was OK with everything. I would then prepare a sheet that both of us signed and dated noting our review. I wanted it for my record in case anyone (including siblings who were never involved in her care) every questioned my decisions. Regarding the Deed, I always stressed to her she was the owner of the home until her death.
When she died at age 93, I was prepared. Her funeral wishes were followed. When it came to closing the estate, it was a very simple process that involved my attorney filing a death certificate with the County Clerk to confirm ownership of the property transferred to me. My siblings never questioned anything.
Many of the horror stories that occur regarding control over property, bank accounts, etc. might, and I stress might, be avoided if wishes were discussed and reviewed on a regular basis. You note in your profile you are your mom's caregiver. How did your sister get access to the will, etc. I always kept such documents in a locked box. As others have already stated, your situation requires the advice of an attorney. I wish you well.