Bequeathed Personal Property and Personal Representative

[tmk123myactvnet]

What is the name of your state? Maryland

Can my stepmother sell personal property bequeathed to me in my father's will?
My father gave me a copy of his will. We had a question about the paragraph that names my stepmother as his personal representative.
It states in the third paragraph that,
'I hereby give, devise and bequeath unto my daughter, " My Name" all my right, title, and interest in and to my cabin and parcel of land more commonly referred to as "the address that I am currently residing at"
' Yet in the ninth paragraph - personal representative it states,
'I hereby nominate, constitute and appoint my wife, "My Stepmother's name", to be the Personal Representative of this my Last Will and Testament conferring upon said person all powers granted by Maryland Law to do all things necessary for the proper administration of my estate and also conferring upon said person full power to sell any property, whether real, personal, or mixed and wheresoever situate, which I may own at the time of my death, at either public or private sale and upon such terms and conditions as said person, in their sole discretion, deems adequate and proper without application to or approval of any court and without giving any bond or other security.

I have been living at the residence and renting from my father for over 10 years. I can't ask the lawyer that wrote up the will because they are friends and former employers of my stepmother. We are just trying to make sure that she is not trying to manipulate my father because she has done some things recently that can be seen as untrustworthy. Thank you

 

[HRZ]

Dad and SM can do pretty much as they want for now , including sell stuff , retitle it and change wills: proving undue influence is quite hard! And even if the will as written were in place at time Dad were to pass, IF his estate had big bills to pay and was illiquid, the executor whomever it might be, has a great deal of discretion to sell things in order to pay bills .

IF Dad is nervous about the transfer of the house to you then HE might take other steps to lock it in, including transfer it to you now . ( That might be tax inefficient for you if you were to seek an immediate resale as your basis would be his old low basis not the updated fair market value at his passing ...but for a modest personal residence the gain may wel be exempt and if his estate is modest, a good size gift now will have no impact on any of his or SM's taxes ) THere is unlikely to be any tax advantage to Dad to wait until his end to make a desired transfer ...and as a talking point , one way to make sure ones bequests are carried out it to make them as completed gifts while alive.

 

[tmk123myactvnet]

Dad and SM can do pretty much as they want for now , including sell stuff , retitle it and change wills: proving undue influence is quite hard! And even if the will as written were in place at time Dad were to pass, IF his estate had big bills to pay and was illiquid, the executor whomever it might be, has a great deal of discretion to sell things in order to pay bills .

IF Dad is nervous about the transfer of the house to you then HE might take other steps to lock it in, including transfer it to you now . ( That might be tax inefficient for you if you were to seek an immediate resale as your basis would be his old low basis not the updated fair market value at his passing ...but for a modest personal residence the gain may wel be exempt and if his estate is modest, a good size gift now will have no impact on any of his or SM's taxes ) THere is unlikely to be any tax advantage to Dad to wait until his end to make a desired transfer ...and as a talking point , one way to make sure ones bequests are carried out it to make them as completed gifts while alive.

Thank you for the reply. It's still a little confusing though. I guess what the main concern is, if something happens to my father can my sm throw me out of the cabin just to sell it for her own personal gain. It's not much, just a small 500 sq Ft cabin on a very small plot of land. Worth about $50000 if that. He purchased it years before they were together and had always promised it to me. She can be manipulative and knows how to "work" the system. She used to work for the lawyer that drew up the will. We don't want to have it put in my name just yet. I am a part time college student and have financial help that could be effected.

 

[adjusterjack]

Another alternative is that he add you to his deed and show you both at joint tenants with right of survivorship so when he dies the property automatically becomes yours and nobody gets to say boo about it.

You should also look up the current deed (at the county records) to the house because if it's already titled to him and stepmom with right of survivorship what's in his will means nothing and stepmom automatically becomes owner when he dies.

 

[justalayman]

Maryland also has a tenancy by the entirety. If the type of coowmership is not specified, it is assumed it is tbe. If it is held as tbe, not only does the wife assume total ownership at dads death, he could not dissolve the tbe without his wife’s agreement.

And I’m curious

Who is the “we” that has a problem with a given paragraph in the will?

 

[tmk123myactvnet]

The deed to the property is only in my father's name. 'We' is my dad and I. I'm living in the cabin and have been renting it for 10 years and 6 months

 

[justalayman]

The deed to the property is only in my father's name. 'We' is my dad and I. I'm living in the cabin and have been renting it for 10 years and 6 months

If your father wrote the will, he should understand it. If he doesn’t, he needs to speak to the attorney that wrote the will for your father and have him explain it to your father. Then, if your father wishes to change the will, he can.


If he doesn’t trust his wife, then maybe he should consider some very serious relationship changes


He can go to any attorney and have the will explained to him and have that attorney help him write a new will if desired.

 

[tmk123myactvnet]

If your father wrote the will, he should understand it. If he doesn’t, he needs to speak to the attorney that wrote the will for your father and have him explain it to your father. Then, if your father wishes to change the will, he can.


If he doesn’t trust his wife, then maybe he should consider some very serious relationship changes


He can go to any attorney and have the will explained to him and have that attorney help him write a new will if desired.

I agree that there should be relationship changes but it's a long story. I think he's going to have to take it to another attorney. The one that drew it up is a friend of my stepmother. She also used to work for him. They know my dad doesn't know a lot about legal things. Dad and I want to make sure she isn't trying to manipulate him. If so its another mark against her. Thanks for the help and advice though. It does put things into perspective.

 

[HRZ]

I repeat my suggestions that if the cabin is solely in Dads name there are at least two ways to easily transfer the property to you with greater safety as to outcome ..one is to gift it to you now, another is to add you to title as JTWROS ...he need not wait until he passes to change things ...a gift now gives a tiny disadvantage of low cost basis to you but that may be moot is you have no plans to sell or the overall gain from his adjusted cost basis is rather modest. Dad is supposed to adjust for depreciation with rented property but let's not go there just yet.

 

[HRZ]

Does Dad have a right to use the cabin ?

 

[tmk123myactvnet]

[QUOTEHe="HRZ, post: 3591178, member: 674306"]Does Dad have a right to use the cabin ?[/QUOTE
He does. He knows he can stay here if he ever wanted or needed to. He and my stepmother own a house. The cabin is a very small one bedroom dwelling. He lived here full time before him and my stepmother got together. I live here full time now and never plan to sell. I am 40 and alone so there is no issue with anyone else. I'm actually in poor health as it is and will probably go before my dad does anyway so it may not matter. There were just some things that were unclear to him that he wanted to clear up to have peace of mind.

 

[tmk123myactvnet]

The thing is no one lived here for about 15 years. I moved away and for about 5 years. When I was thinking about moving back my dad said I could live here because it was going to be mine anyway. It's been a sore subject between my dad and stepmom because she had always wanted to sell it and was upset that dad never put her name on it. My grandfather got sick so I moved back. It was in bad shape from sitting empty for so long so i fixed it up. Then last year I decided to go back to college to get my degree and go into the peace corps which meant I would be leaving it. Except a few months ago I found out I was sick. My parents know I'm sick but dont know the extent of the illness and its hard for me to tell them because something is always going on. I have a stepsister that is a drug addict and has other problems. Dad wanted to make sure that my stepmom cant kick me out to move her in. Something happened between my dad and stepmom a few weeks ago. He brought me his will and told me to make a copy and go over it to make sure she didn't try to deceive him. I know this is a lot of information but I wanted to give an idea of what's going on. I want to give him peace of mind that his wife isn't a bad person.

 

[HRZ]

HE might be induced to change his will or retitle the place w SM...and to prove any improper influence would be darn hard .

My suggestion as a layman would be to get it deeded over to you now .
I would have Dad reserve a written life estate to be there ...it's a tax point for step up of basis .

IF you anticipate passing before Dad, ask counsel, there are probably several ways to swing it back to Dad IF that is your desire for end outcome . You need not include Dad in your personal medical concerns ...tough call!