Family Feud

[camie_lm]

What is the name of your state? AZ

My family is in a bite of a battle over my grandfathers living trust. My mother and I moved in with my grandparents back in 1987. My mother took care of my grandmother up until her death in 1992, shortly there after my grandfather was having his own health issues so we stayed to help him. Now we are learning that his living will declares my mother and my aunt joint owners in all of his property (car and house - with everything in it). Here where my questions start (1) The time spent by my mother and I maintaining his home, cooking to his diet guidelines, cleaning, electrical work, etc - shouldn’t that be taken into consideration as our investment into this home? (2) Not everything in this house is his, all 3 of us live here, my mother and I do not have receipts for stuff we bought years ago – why do we need to prove that it belongs to us now? (3) All of the household bills are in my mothers name and have been since we moved in. As far as most companies are concerned this house belongs to my mother. (4) Lastly I have been paying the bills that are in his name since January of this year, can I expect to see any of that money back now that he has passed?

The primary reason for my concern is that my aunt wants to list the house for sale, yet my mother and I still live here. I have no problem with the plan of paying her a third of the homes current value after it is inspected by a pro. I just don’t agree with paying her half the homes value along with her keeping his car and taking most of his stuff.

So what can we do? What rights do we have?

Sincerely Frustrated,
Lindsey

 

[lwpat]

You are mixing up things. A living will is only effective while he was alive. I have no idea what a living trust is. What you hear and what is fact are usually two different things. What you need to do is to get a copy of the will, if there is one. It sounds like your aunt is the personal representative but you need to check with the probate court. If probate has not been started, make an appointment with the clerk and your mother can file to be the personal representative. Since there is real estate, probate is required.

Your personal items are yours. Your aunt will need to prove they are not.

You can file a claim against the estate for any of his personal bills that you paid. You need copies and cancelled checks or receipts.

You and your mother owe the estate fair rental value on the house from the time of his death until the estate is settled.

"(1) The time spent by my mother and I maintaining his home, cooking to his diet guidelines, cleaning, electrical work, etc - shouldn_t that be taken into consideration as our investment into this home?" Probably, but you should have worked that out with him. Now it is too late.

"3) All of the household bills are in my mothers name and have been since we moved in. As far as most companies are concerned this house belongs to my mother. "

All that matters is the name on the deed and the disposition per probate.

 

[Dandy Don]

Is your aunt the executor of the will or trustee of the trust?

You and your mother will own the home after the will is probated, so you don't need to do a buy-out and aunt has no business telling you she will sell the home unless the trust tells her to do so. Get your own attorney and get a copy of the trust if you don't already have it.

 

[camie_lm]

I believe I have an up-to-date copy of his 'estate portfolio'. So far everything for the living trust & will have both my mothers and aunts name listed as; (1) aunts name, (2) mothers name. I hope that this means that my mother and aunt are equal in everything.
As to the executor, I have no clue who that is.

Now there's another problem though - my mother and I just learned the hard way that grandpa gave out several copies of the house key. When we got home last night we found our relatives going through the house including our rooms. Now we are finding jewelry and various other personal affects missing. (*gotta love family)

I guess we need to change the locks & hold tight untill the estate is in probate.