Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California
Okay this is the situation, my fiance Dave is one of 4 children. 2 siblings have moved away being detatched for years, Dave has always lived at home with his mother, and his older sister Patricia has always tried to get their mother Virginia to throw Dave out. Virginia passed away suddenly less then two years ago, and now some journal entries of Virginia's have been found and what has become a tragidy we hadn't prepared for now is downright disturbing. There was no will. Dave still resides in his parents home, the home he was raised in. Back in 2005 while Dave was working out of town for about a month his sister Patricia talked their mom Virginia into signing a reverse home mortgage, and getting $100,000 in cash. Now upon reading her diary Virginia did not know what was going on, she was afraid for some reason of her daughter Patricia. Coinsedencly enough for Patty 4 months after her mother received the $100k, Patty bought a house for herself, and went on 3 trips to Hawaii without Virginia. And that money was gone, not one cent was spent on anything other then what Patricia had decided on. As the journal entries go on, she is clearly worries about what Patricia has planned because she is always in a hurry, always rushing Virginia, and yells at her if she doesn't understand something. She said that she has never felt so confused and so helpless before. So 4 years pass that Virginia had been convenced to do the reverse home mortgage, and aside for the lump sum of $, she was also receiving approx $900 a month from this deal that was deposited into her bank account monthly. A diary entry states " I give her all the money I have, and it still isn't enough , I can't make her happy,she hates me!" In 2009 Virginia went into the hospital with what she thought would be a simple procedure, but it was quite serious, she had colon cancer and had to be operated on. Once Virginia came out of sergury she was not the same. She was getting worse and Patricia didn't notify the rest of the family of anything. Later it was revealed to Dave by the doctor in charge that he had spoke to Patricia that a desision had to be made concerning Virginia, she would have to have another operation in order to survive. And as he was certain her heart was strong enough , thus physically able to survive the operation, her mind might not be as capable, and that it was a possibilty that she would need constant care. With that being said she told the doctor not to proceed with the operation, and let her die. Which Virginia did pass away within about 24 hrs. Patricia did not have Power of Attorney in which she could legally make a decision like that. I believe that the doctor/doctor's involved in this know that because it took 3 weeks for the doctor to sign the death certificate. As soon as Virginia died, within the hour withdrawls were made on her bank account, until the $800 that Patricia allowed her mother to have in her account was withdrawn. The pension Virginia recieved from her late husband was still being issued up to 6 months after her death, a life insurance policy had been collected on. As the rest of the family was in shock Patricia rushed right ahead having her mother creamated, and futhermore Patricia is the keeper of the remains. As I said there is no will, and the only thing that Dave has of his mother's is her house which his days are numbered there due to the reverse mortgage. What can be done here? Please help if you can.
3 Answers from Attorneys
It sounds like a case of financial elder abuse. You should contact a probate attorney in your area right away.
Mr. Jordan is correct as i doubt you can handle this yourself and Patricia is not likely to co-operate at all. Since there is no Will and four children, each gets 1/4th of the estate. The life insurance policy is outside the estate and would have been paid to the person named as beneficiary; the insurance company would be careful to do so. Someone will have to file for probate of the estate so that an administrator can be named who can sue for elder abuse and to get the money back that the estate is entitled to. It will not be an easy nor inexpensive case as the estate probably will have little money unless it succeeds on the elder abuse claim. One thing that will be necessary early on is determining what possible assets there are.
Good luck.
Dave has waited WAY too long to do anything about this. He needs to see an attorney immediately before Patricia gets away with this due to statutes of limitations. No amount of internet help is going to solve this and time is not wasting, it's been badly wasted.
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