A Bad Business

My mother (85) & brother (50) went into business in Colorado using my mother's home as the main asset. A Limited Liability Company was formed with $12,000 or his money and the about $325,000 that she had from the sale of her California house. My brother got a promissory note attached to the LLC allowing him 10 years to buy out her share of the business upon her death. There are two other heirs to her estate besides him--myself and my stepbrother, and we were never consulted in this deal. Neither my mother or brother has been forthcoming about what was done; all we know about it is what we learned from reading the LLC papers plus the will and power of attorney accompanying them. We are very angry about this situation because my mother was supposed to put all her assets in a trust to avoid probate. Now we (I am executor) are faced with a Probate mess unless we can get him to rescind the business situaton, or we are able to sell the note (I don't know if this is on a deed of trust or mortgage.) My mother has become very forgetful and has refused to listen to us; this is a serious problem as my bother has complete power of attorney as well as control of everything she owns. This has been going on for three years, and we are very disgusted with my brother. Any suggestions?

AS THE HOLDER OF HER POWER OF ATTORNEY HE HAS A LEGAL DUTY TO ACT IN HER INTERESTS, not his own. If she is no longer competent -- not merely "forgetful" -- we all are sometimes forgetful -- getting a person appointed Conservator may make sense.

This calls for a family pow-wow. And maybe a consultation with an ekder care lawyer in advance.

Only one problem with a family pow-wow, my brother won't talk to us on the issue of what he and Mom did. That is why we're seeking advice. If it were only a matter of sitting down and talking, this would have been solved a long time ago. We need to know if there is any way to proceed without him.