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trustee in MI

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Cathy D.

Guest
What is the name of your state? Michigan
My mother is in hospice, there are two siblings myself and my sister. My sister has durable power of attourney, I have no access to mother's moneys. The house goes into co-trusteeship after mom's death. My sister has decided to sell the house now before mom passes since I only have co-trusteeship after mom's death. Mom's moneys are not in trust, only the house. My sister said she can sell the house right now before mom's death and keep the money. Do I have any recourse, or is my half of the money from the sale of the house really able to all go to her?
 


Dandy Don

Senior Member
You have left out a few essential details:

What type of trust is it?

Does the trust specify what should happen with the house?

Does your mother agree with this plan to have the house sold BEFORE she dies--her signature would be required for the sale to go through, or did sister with the POA even think of this aspect?

Does your mother have a will?

What will happen to your mother's monies when she dies?
 
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Cathy D.

Guest
I am not sure what type of trust it is , I have to check with her attourney.
My mother assumed that the house would not be sold until after her death, my sister is using her POA and selling it on her own, and the attourney told my mother that my sister can sell it . The attourney apparently called her last night and told her that mom doesn't want the house sold. Can the POA do this even with my mother not wanting to sell?
The will (yes she has a will) never addressed the issue of the house being sold PRIOR to moms death. My sister is insisting (although lying) that mom's monies are running out and the house needs to be sold to go to mom's care.
My sister already used her POA to cash in CD'c that were in mine and mother's name insisting that the money was needed to care for mom. My sister is bi-polar ( refuses to acknowledge it) and is in a very aggitated state.
My mother is now living with a caregiver a few blocks away from me. My sister is using her intimidation tactics towards mom and insists on removing her from the caregivers home and into her home at which she will not even allow me to visit mom there. In other words I won't even be able to be at my mothers death. I have begged mom to change things to make them easier for me but she's terrified of my sister.
The monies? My name is not on any of mom's accounts , only my sister and mom are on the accounts which means all monies will be taken by my sister.
I am so incredibly grieved by this situation , any help you can offer in the way of advice would be greatly appreciated.
 

Dandy Don

Senior Member
Mother needs the courage to stop being afraid of sister and to make decisions to stand up to her. Mother has the right to handle and manage her own affairs, and sister is powerless to do anything about the decisions she makes.

You need to get the assistance of a local business law or probate attorney to get a document drawn up to revoke the POA given to your sister and to put you or an attorney in charge of being the POA. It may even be possible with the assistance of an attorney to get the monies back from the cashed in CD's, since this was an abuse of authority of the POA. If she is using the monies for mother's care, then these monies should be set up in a separate account that is not the sister's monies.

Mom can contact the bank to get names changed on any of her accounts to delete the sister's name and put anybody else's name she wants on there.

And she also needs to get a new will drafted to disinherit this dishonest sister by leaving her a small token amount and also expressing her displeasure with this sister's greedy actions.
 
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Cathy D.

Guest
I want to thank you so much for the advice you have given.
I talked to mother , and she hasn't the courage nor the strength to contact her attourney to make any changes. My husband and I haven't the money to hire attourneys to fight this situation. we've had much financial difficulties due to a son who is a transplant patient. I am grateful that after 15 surgeries my son is doing well. I guess when you compare that to this whole situation with mom,.......................well, at least I have my son and that in itself is more of a blessing than any amount of money that I may never see. I've had 4 "special needs" children and we've been through horrible situations. I guess I can chalk this up to being just one more situation that I have to get through. Again, many thanks for the advice, and many thanks for all the help that I' m sure you have given to countless others. It's people like you that restore my faith in humankind!!! We may have to deal with some very nasty people during our lifetime here on earth, but folks like you keep smiles on our faces, and hope in our hearts :)
 

Dandy Don

Senior Member
Please don't make the mistake of thinking that hiring an attorney will be prohibitively expensive. It would only take a few minutes or so to get the document typed up that revokes the POA. If you don't do anything, then sister gets away with stealing YOUR share of this estate. It's just not fair. It's much better to fight for your share of this estate now--after she dies, it will be too late to do anything. Even a simple will could be drawn up at very inexpensive cost and the financial benefit would be worth it to you.
 
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Cathy D.

Guest
Ok, here's what is happening . Mom called her attourney and asked for changes to be made to the will. She told him that she wanted to make changes to ensure I would be totally protected from my sister after her death. Her attourney made changes to her will to ensure my protection and is supposed to bring the will for her to sign and be witnessed by her caregiver before my sister removes her from the caregivers home. The only change that she understood he is making is that he made my husband co-executer of her will. Currently I am co- executress with my sister and it's being changed to my husband so that I won't have to "face off" with my sister.
I asked (no,.....begged) mom to sign away my sister as POA and she is too afraid especially since she will be living with her after this week. I'm afraid there's not much more I can do since mom won't actually make the changes herself out of fear of my sister. I just can't put mom through any more, she's so close to death and is so weak, I just have to believe that her attourney made the proper changes. By the way , am I entitled to a copy of the will?
 

Dandy Don

Senior Member
Having more than one person as a co-executor is a bad idea--get her to change it to you or your husband as the sole executor.

Ask mother to get her attorney to draft up the document revoking the POA--mother can say she had it issued by mistake--if mother is using her own funds to pay for her own care, then she needs to put the money back into an account that mother controls, but can put one or both daughters on the account as beneficiary to get whatever money is left over AFTER she dies. I understand she is in a difficult position, so if she doesn't care what happens to the money and if she doesn't mind the sister having access to it, then she doesn't need to do anything except get the will changed--at least sister won't know about that until after the death.

What a sad situation.
 

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