Grandpa signed over house deed, but does his wife still have a claim?

[krlitz]

I live in Michigan if this affects anything.

I typed a long explanation but it deleted so my question is this. My grandfather died recently. It was very sudden and he hadn't made a will or signed my mother (his daughter) over as power of attorney. He had married a woman about 4 years ago but she quickly descended into dementia and became very abusive.

Anyway. My grandfather inherited his family home which is on a body of water and very nice. It is well sought after as it is the only place that is available for another marina in the area. He signed this over to me and my sisters well before this woman showed up. We are on the deed now. However, my family is afraid that his wife has a claim on the house because he never wrote a will. Is this true or are they just over thinking it? We don't want it to be torn down or go out of the family.

 

[justalayman]

If your grandfather did not even owns the property when he got married it is a moot point


Just to be certain; you are saying your grandfather constructed a deed with he being the grantor and you and your sibling as the grantees, correct,?

The only thing that piques my interest is: if grandpa didn't own it for several years at least, why would you even question whether the wife has any claim on the property? What makes you even consider the possibility?

 

[krlitz]

I'm not sure if he legally still owned it or not. All I know is that he put our names on the deed to the house, whether that was as grantor or grantee.... I'm not sure. I was pretty young when all this happened and I didn't really understand what was being signed or why.

The reason I asked this question is because my family talked to a lawyer who claimed that the woman had a claim to the house, regardless of whether or not our names were on the deed. Now this man hadn't really looked at all the facts in the case and just made a passing comment but it was enough to make my family concerned. I came on here to get either confirmation or a correction.

 

[justalayman]

krlitz;3268760]I'm not sure if he legally still owned it or not

then one of your two posts is not accurate and to be able to give you any sort of answer, that question must be answered.

. All I know is that he put our names on the deed to the house, whether that was as grantor or grantee.... I'm not sure. I was pretty young when all this happened and I didn't really understand what was being signed or why.

how young because that in itself could be a problem.

The reason I asked this question is because my family talked to a lawyer who claimed that the woman had a claim to the house, regardless of whether or not our names were on the deed.

without facts I cannot really give you an answer so, figure out who owns the property and come on back and let me know.

.

I came on here to get either confirmation or a correction.

without facts you can't get either.

at the register of deeds office, find the section concerning this property. Look for any recorded deeds. If there is one from your grandfather as grantor (that is who owns the property that is being conveyed to another person). Then find where it lists the grantees (that is who the property is being transferred to) and look to see if there is any statement regarding any particular share of the interest or all of the grantors interest. It is possible to transfer only part of the total interest to other parties. Some counties have this available online, some for free, some charge a fee. If not available online, you will have to go to the register of deeds office and review the books.

 

[krlitz]

So. Yes we are the the grantees and our names are on the deed. But now I have more questions.

His wife has drained all of my grandfather's bank accounts (even emptying ones that had only his name or his previous wife's who died. These were supposed to go to her family) She is also selling everything in the house and around the property. Including my grandfather's boat and anything of value in the house, including several family heirlooms (this house is very old and has had multiple generations inside) many of which didn't belong to my grandfather or her but my cousins and great-uncles who would store them at his home.

She also got into his safety deposit box and claimed she found a will that gave her everything but she never submitted it to probate. No one has seen the will to this day.

She also found and took my grandfather's stock he had bought in Pepsi. These were to go to my two mentally handicapped uncles to take care of them later in life. Now, if my grandfather did have a will and if it was signed over to her it should be noted that on his deathbed he admitted that she was abusing him and we have evidence of this in a message they left on our phone without realizing they had called. He also had a stroke right before this "will" was signed and my mother's lawyer said that it is possible we could contest it in court.

After all this, she agreed to be out of the house by the twentieth of June, when she kept backing out on promises, my mother served her with an eviction notice.

Now she is planning on suing us for pain and suffering and claims Dower rights (even though the property was not bought or even in my grandfather's possession when they got married)

My parents don't have a lot of disposable income and if she sues them they are afraid they would end up having to sell the house just to cover the costs. Do you think they have a decent case for counter-suing for pain and suffering? Both of my parents have had to go to therapy for this and it has pretty much destroyed my entire family.

 

[curb1]

If grand father's wife was on these accounts they could easily be hers depending on how they were titled. Have you discussed this with the bank? Do you have any of the bank statements? It is difficult and costly to put Humpty Dumpty back together again after Humpty dies.

 

[justalayman]

Regarding the house; if you and sister own it, your mother has no standing to evict the woman nor do they have standing to defend any action taken against the house. That is on you and sister.

If the owners of any property she is selling illegally don't report it to the police, then shame on them. If nothing else, they should be heading to court to get an injunction to stop the sale of anything until ownership is determined. If they haven't then tell them to stop complaining. If they don't take action to claim their property, care to guess whose property it looks like it is?

She also got into his safety deposit box and claimed she found a will that gave her everything but she never submitted it to probate. No one has seen the will to this day.

banks are pretty good about not letting people get into boxes they do not have a legal right to. If they let her in, then I presume she had a legal right to access it.

and if she claimed she found a will and nobody opened probate and made a demand she produce the will and if she refused, seek the courts assistance in compelling her to produce the will, well, shame on them.

She also found and took my grandfather's stock he had bought in Pepsi. These were to go to my two mentally handicapped uncles to take care of them later in life. Now, if my grandfather did have a will and if it was signed over to her it should be noted that on his deathbed he admitted that she was abusing him and we have evidence of this in a message they left on our phone without realizing they had called. He also had a stroke right before this "will" was signed and my mother's lawyer said that it is possible we could contest it in court.

how do you know he still had Pepsi stock? but do you know how she could have transferred the certificates without his signature?


basically, it sounds like nobody has hired a lawyer or cares enough to do so. Depending on how long ago anything happened, it may already be too late so I would suggest somebody find a lawyer to look at everything and either explain to you why she gets what she took or takes the appropriate action to get what is yours.

 

[krlitz]

My parents do have a lawyer and we are currently involved in a legal battle now. I am looking for legal information so that I am informed about what is going on and why.

The case just took a turn for the worse. The woman had been ostracizing us and telling my grandfather that she had invited us over but we didn't want to see him (obvious lies). After he had his stroke my mother tried to take care of him. The woman always complained that he was full time care but most of the time she left him to take care of himself.

For a long time we had been under the impression that she has dementia or some sort of Alzheimer's. We have called the social services to check on her because with all the peculiar things that she has been doing we were concerned about her well-being (even being the cruel woman that she is). Recently, however, the social services said that it is clear that she never had any kind of mental problems and if she seemed that way then it was an act or something. The reason this is so disturbing is because the doctors at the hospital discovered that she was the one responsible for my grandfather's pills because she used to be a nurse. When they looked at how she was maintaining his medication they found that she never knew what she was giving him, kept it all in a mixed bag and if he didn't take what was handed to him then she would scream at him until he complied. When they saw this they also saw the other weird behavior and thought she had dementia so they tried to help her manage how to give out medicine. However, it turns out that she doesn't have any mental deficiencies at all and was just using that excuse to cover her own ass.

Also, we just found out that she wasn't just married the two times but FOUR times. All of her husbands suffered the same similar heart attack before she took all their money and homes.

 

[curb1]

So what is the status of probate?