Surprise Mortgage Debt

I am my mother's only child. I have two children (now grown).
We have shared residences off/on through my lifetime.
Most especially so since 1992 when I became disabled due to serious illness.
We had house(in my name) and apt.(in mother's name) in Ga., house(in my name) in Fla, and house in St Louis(in mother's name).
In 1999, St.Louis became main residence for all;Ga house was rented; Fla house used for convalescing
2001: Ga house sold at a loss due to damages from renters and others
In 2003 she fell, broke hip, and was diagnosed with alzheimer's; we spent next 10 months in Fla. convalescing and preparing for sale of Fla house due to skyrocketing health insurance/healthcare expenses increasingly unaffordable on fixed disability income
My son, unbeknownst to me, had her assign to him, Durable Power of Attorney while she was still in hospital with broken hip. According to my research, her signature is illegal. Nevertheless, he acts on this power until her death on 12/12/07.
Winter 2003, son, Durable Power of Attorney, prepares for first deployment to mid east with U.S. Army.
We returned from Fla to St.Louis house in Jan '05;
In Feb '05, son has nursing home staff break into
house and take mother to nursing home (unbeknownst to me).
Months earlier he announces breaking agreements mother made to pay for my health insurance, he cancelled other financial agreements that were to my benefit as well. By the time he takes these actions, I am trapped in this house having relinquished other houses and moved all property into this one. And exhausted.
Two weeks ago,June 2008, I learned for the first time, that mortgage bank is owed $46+k on the st.louis house. He lead me to believe that p.i.t.i. payments were being made. emails support this as well as absence of any notification until two weeks ago.
As it turns out, I have laid out money (upwards in five figures over recent years only) for expenses of mother and house that, it is my understanding, are the responsibility of power of atty. What began as good faith action to best benefit of family and unsuspecting of outcome as it stands now: I was left alone to handle labor, others, expenses ,stress, with no intention of power of attorney to fulfill legal responsibilities.

i would like to know what my options are with regard to $46k owed to mortgage bank.

thank you..

LAW4LILLIANNA said:

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? MISSOURI

I HAVE MOTHER'S LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT IN WHICH I AM NAMED BENEFICIARY OF ALL HER PROPERTY AND NAMED EXECUTOR OF THE WILL (SHOULD i ACCEPT IT).

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Did you mom have anything besides this house? Like checking and/or savings account? insurance? etc etc?

A Power of Attorney only enables a person to act on behalf of another. Generally, it does not obligate the agent to act.

Trying to parse the remainder of your post, and considering your other post...

I HAVE MOTHER'S LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT IN WHICH I AM NAMED BENEFICIARY OF ALL HER PROPERTY AND NAMED EXECUTOR OF THE WILL (SHOULD i ACCEPT IT).

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...I have trouble seeing exactly how you have been damaged. If the mortgage payments had been made from your mother's funds, then her estate would be smaller.

It's up to you whether to apply to be executor of your mother's estate. Why wouldn't you? (Besides, if your son actually did engage in any wrongdoing under the POA, it is really your only way to investigate and seek recompense for your mother's estate.)

And, to make one other thing clear: The POA ends when mom dies...

Are there any other assets in the estate besides the house? Of course, not because sneaky brother has taken as much of the cash assets as he could using the POA.

Your assumption that you are owed money from the POA is incorrect. If you were the POA during the time the expenses were incurred, you should have been using your mother's money and not your own to pay the expenses. If your brother was the POA when the expenses were incurred, why didn't you ask him for reimbursement at that time? Depending on what the expenses were, you may be able to file a claim for reimbursement for some of the expenses to be reimbursed by the estate but you would need to consult a probate attorney to find out which expenses those are.

Is there enough money in the estate to be able to pay off the $46,000 mortgage balance? What is the total value of this estate not counting the house? If there is not enough in the estate to pay off the balance, then you need to decide if you want to sell the home with the mortgage company's permission and then keep any proceeds that are left after the mortgage is paid off.

If the will was written during the time she had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's, it might be invalid (but keep that secret to yourself until after you have consulted with an attorney about that).

The main problem is that you should have been gone to the police or to a local social services agency to get information about elderly financial abuse and/or abuse of power of attorney when you first found out about his durable POA. There might be a requirement in the law that requires him to provide an accounting statement including receipts to prove he spent the money on his mother's care and did not selfishly keep any excess for himself, but those charges will be outside of and separate from the probate proceedings.

You needed an attorney yesterday.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])

Of course, not because sneaky brother has taken as much of the cash assets as he could using the POA.

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WHAT IS YOUR EVIDENCE FOR THAT STATEMENT?

(Besides, it is her son, not her brother.)

Did your son take out the mortgage without anyone knowing?
What was the money used for?

Good luck - I agree, you need a lawyer yesterday, and get one that specilizes in old age issues. It sounds like this fellow could be abusing his power.