Can trust/will be contested

[ckbledsoe]

What is the name of your state? AR
40 yr old disabled con artist talked my 85 yr old father into using all funds to buy new house in which they would live & set up trust making her trustee/executor/heir. After running up his cr. cards to furnish house, she threw him out. A friend allowed him to move in with her to have a place to live, encountered health problems requiring her to care for him, and subsequently died before changing will/trust. I am only child, am mentioned in will as such, but left nothing but excess funeral exp. This woman basically defrauded my dad by throwing him out after getting what she wanted. I am in IL, would I be able to contest the will & trust? Would it be a waste of more $? The caregiver should have prospered - not the con artist.

 

[Dandy Don]

You conveniently left out the most important fact--was she married to him or just a live-in companion?

Do you know whether she also had him sign a power of attorney?

Your chances to contest the will are stronger if you can get access to the old will to prove what it said before the changes. If you can't get access to that, she will get away scot free.

For a few hundred dollars, hire a PI to do a criminal background check to see if this lady has done this to anyone else or has ever faced criminal charges elsewhere. If she got power of attorney, she needs to provide an accounting to prove how she spent the money (for his personal care only, NOT to keep for herself), so you also need to discuss with your attorney whether she could face charges for abuse of POA if in fact she had POA.

If you have access to the earlier will or if you know the attorney who drafted it, your attorney needs to look at it to advise you how to proceed.

Do you have any knowledge of other assets he had that are not mentioned in the will or trust, or did she get everything valuable?

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])

 

[ckbledsoe]

No, she was not married to him nor was there any power of attorney provided or mentioned when the attorney gave me the copies of will/trust. Really was not even live in companion as he only had a rm. in the new house for 2 wks before she threw him out. I do have the original will drawn up before his wife died several yrs ago dividing estate between wife's children & me. Executor of that will was wife's son, now deceased. The Atty that drew up this will/trust told me only the Trustee can tell me what all was included in trust and don't have to tell me if she don't want to. He also told me that since I signed the papers at funeral home, I would be financially responsible as everything in the trust is protected was creditors. Dad had nothing else other than a car that he owes more on that it's worth. Only thing he had was the money he used to put on this new house, which he got when he sold his trailer/land ($20K) and that is when she swooped to talk him into this house. I am sick over this, but with me in IL and estate in AR, I feel it would be cost prohibitive to fight. I am out $2K in travel exp to AR and another $2K in funeral exp. as it is and can't afford to go any deeper if there is only a slim chance of winning. It appears that she dotted the i's and crossed all of the t's, she knew what she was doing.

 

[Dandy Don]

What is the house worth?

 

[ckbledsoe]

The house is probably worth $160K maybe more, plus she helped him run up his credit cards to the tune of $20K plus in furniture purchases. Her name was added to one credit card that has a balance of $6K, which I assume she will get rightfully get stuck for since her name is on it.