T
tihstae
Guest
State is California.
Background:
My widowed mother recently died. 15 years ago, she allowed my brother (I have two) to take out a loan on the her house (which had 2 years of payment left) to bail him out of debt and do some renovation to the house. About $20,000 of the ~$70,000 loan went into the house. The loan company insisted that my brother's name go on the deed for the loan to go through and my mother agreed. I do not know if the deed is joint tenancy or tenants in common. The agreement was that my brother make the payments on the house and when my mother died, the house would be split between the 3 children after the amount put into the house was taken out. 3 years after the loan, my brother left and told my mother she would have to pay the house by herself. My mother was permanently disabled and living on Social Security Disability payments that were less than the mortage payments. I was single at the time, living in an apartment and just moved in with her and took over the payments. I have since married and moved out, but continued the payments to insure that my mother would not have to leave the family home of over 30 years. I kept my legal residence at my mother's house and claimed her as a dependent for the last 8-10 years. My mother has rented a bedroom to a family friend for the last 5 years. Within an hour after being notified of my mother's death, this same brother was at the house asking a neighbor that was my mother's caretaker for the keys to the house so he could change the locks and telling the renter that he would "not be able to afford next month's rent". My Mother hand wrote a will and enclosed her wedding ring inside the envelope before sealing it ~8-10 years ago (right after that brother decided to welch on his debts and his agreement with my Mother). I don't know what the will says, although I believe it says to split everything between the 3 children, except for certain sentimental items which are assigned to each child. I also don't know if it is witnessed.
My mother had at the time of her death, ~$8000 in credit card debt, a 1985 Hyundai (worth ~$800) and the house. One of her credit cards also had my name on the account as a second card holder, I never signed anything with them, but used the card occasionally to purchase item for my mother and made payments from my personal account to the card company a couple of times when Mom was short on money. My mother has had extensive medical treatment in the last 10 years and it was covered jointly by Medicare and Medi-Cal (Medicaid). The house is worth ~$120,00 with $67,000 outstanding debt.
Yes, I know what a terrible person that brother is, no need to discuss it here.
My Questions:
Please answer with the consideration that I don't know the status of the tenancy on the family house.
1. Under what circumstance would the will be valid? Should I take the diamond ring (which is intended for me) and throw the will out the window?
2. Does this brother get the house and the other 2 children get the shaft?
3. Am I under any obligation to pay my mother's outstanding bills? Both the card that had my name on it and the others?
4. If that brother gets the house, does he also get the debt?
5. I have heard that Medi-Cal will expect repayment from the estate. Is this true? Can they force sale of the home? Can they demand payment of excess medical payment from family? Am I in any danger of being billed for any of this since she was technically my dependent?
6. Can that brother kick the renter out of the house like that? Can the renter fight it legally? How about if I signed receipts for prepaid rent for the rest of the year?
Please address anything else that I may have left out of my questions and advise on any way I can be sure that that brother gets what he deserves.
Thank you for reading this far and thank you in advance for any replies.
Background:
My widowed mother recently died. 15 years ago, she allowed my brother (I have two) to take out a loan on the her house (which had 2 years of payment left) to bail him out of debt and do some renovation to the house. About $20,000 of the ~$70,000 loan went into the house. The loan company insisted that my brother's name go on the deed for the loan to go through and my mother agreed. I do not know if the deed is joint tenancy or tenants in common. The agreement was that my brother make the payments on the house and when my mother died, the house would be split between the 3 children after the amount put into the house was taken out. 3 years after the loan, my brother left and told my mother she would have to pay the house by herself. My mother was permanently disabled and living on Social Security Disability payments that were less than the mortage payments. I was single at the time, living in an apartment and just moved in with her and took over the payments. I have since married and moved out, but continued the payments to insure that my mother would not have to leave the family home of over 30 years. I kept my legal residence at my mother's house and claimed her as a dependent for the last 8-10 years. My mother has rented a bedroom to a family friend for the last 5 years. Within an hour after being notified of my mother's death, this same brother was at the house asking a neighbor that was my mother's caretaker for the keys to the house so he could change the locks and telling the renter that he would "not be able to afford next month's rent". My Mother hand wrote a will and enclosed her wedding ring inside the envelope before sealing it ~8-10 years ago (right after that brother decided to welch on his debts and his agreement with my Mother). I don't know what the will says, although I believe it says to split everything between the 3 children, except for certain sentimental items which are assigned to each child. I also don't know if it is witnessed.
My mother had at the time of her death, ~$8000 in credit card debt, a 1985 Hyundai (worth ~$800) and the house. One of her credit cards also had my name on the account as a second card holder, I never signed anything with them, but used the card occasionally to purchase item for my mother and made payments from my personal account to the card company a couple of times when Mom was short on money. My mother has had extensive medical treatment in the last 10 years and it was covered jointly by Medicare and Medi-Cal (Medicaid). The house is worth ~$120,00 with $67,000 outstanding debt.
Yes, I know what a terrible person that brother is, no need to discuss it here.
My Questions:
Please answer with the consideration that I don't know the status of the tenancy on the family house.
1. Under what circumstance would the will be valid? Should I take the diamond ring (which is intended for me) and throw the will out the window?
2. Does this brother get the house and the other 2 children get the shaft?
3. Am I under any obligation to pay my mother's outstanding bills? Both the card that had my name on it and the others?
4. If that brother gets the house, does he also get the debt?
5. I have heard that Medi-Cal will expect repayment from the estate. Is this true? Can they force sale of the home? Can they demand payment of excess medical payment from family? Am I in any danger of being billed for any of this since she was technically my dependent?
6. Can that brother kick the renter out of the house like that? Can the renter fight it legally? How about if I signed receipts for prepaid rent for the rest of the year?
Please address anything else that I may have left out of my questions and advise on any way I can be sure that that brother gets what he deserves.
Thank you for reading this far and thank you in advance for any replies.