Which takes precedence? Deed or Will?

[lgwill]

What is the name of your state? NY

My mother is Executor and "durable" POA, my aunt is Co-Executor and POA of my grandparents’ estate. It bequeaths to all 8 children and 2 family friends. Over 20 years, the oldest sister solely cared for Great-Gran, Gramp and Gran up until each of their in-home deaths (all in their late 80's).

Trust/Will dictates on death of both parents (my grandparents), the oldest sister of 8 siblings (co-exec/POA) gets to live in the home until she passes or leaves. At that point, home sells, and the will executes to living beneficiaries.

Gramp passed years ago, Gran passed recently. 1 day before Gram died, my mother added one of her brothers (a former Alcoholic/Drug Addict/Very Abusive) to the house deed to "secure" him a place in the home. The co-executor (my aunt) REFUSED to sign the deed change and Mom did it anyway prior to Gran's death. The deed wasn't officially stamped until 3 days after Gran passed.

The deed change foregoes specific wishes of the Will and was NOT discussed or approved by Gran at any time BEFORE she passed. Was the Deed change legal? If so...

Which takes precedence: existing Will or newly changed Deed?

 

[Dandy Don]

Someone (preferably an attorney you consult) will have to look at New York state law to see if POA allows her the legal authority to do what she did nor not. Someone needs to have a real estate attorney look at the transaction to determine if it is legal or not, or bring it up before the probate judge to embarrass the executor for her improper actions.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])

 

[lgwill]

Going to Probate

Don,

Thanks for the insight. Actually, I just found out from my Aunt that it is going to probate in August, which was ironically insisted upon by my mother because it caused 8 children to split over it. (isn't this whole thing so sad?) My mother and her smug druggie brother seem to think they are clean as a baby's bottom.

I personally, can't wait to see what happens. I told my aunt (co-executor) living in the house, that if Mom can add people to the deed, so can she. She needed to seek out the estate lawyer and add ALL 8 kids on it. The druggie uncle seems to think he's going to move in and push the Aunt out and have a "free" place to live; which is the part which goes against the wishes of the will. My grandparents wanted her to remain living in the home because she provided care to them; when all of the other kids were busy living their own lives. Fair enough by my standards. My uncle doesn't think so, neither does my mother.

Have a good one - I'll post back the results when they happen. I hope the Probate Judge slaps her in the head and kicks my uncles' you-know-what out in the street.

 

[justalayman]

You must undersand that the deed you are concerned with was executed before Gram's death. Now that she has passed there is no POA and the executor cannot add names to the the title of the house.

The problem you face is "is the deed a legal deed"? If so, then the new owner is still the new owner (at least a partial owner) and the remainder of Gram's share will be divided according to the will.

So the answer to your origianal question is:
If the deed is held to be legal, it supercedes the will. The will will be in control of Gram's remaining estate, which depending upon how the new title is held may or may not affect the distribution of the home.