Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Georgia
before my mom died in 2006 she put her bank accounts and house in my sisters name in case she had to go in to a nursing home. mom ask me if it was ok with me or did i want everything in my name i told her either way was ok with me. mom said at her death every thing was to be splt evenly, she left a will stating this, with me as excuter but the will was written before mom put every thing in my sisters name. its been 4 years and my sister still says everything is hers. do i have any rights?
2 Answers from Attorneys
No one here has the will or any documents. However, if she had already transferred property and assets to someone else before her death they were not assets of her estate to be distributed in the will. What she meant to do is not relevant in a will (at least in situations like this) and a will does not provide heirs any rights until death. An elderly person transferring assets to avoid present or future creditors, or to qualify for government assistance, was another potentially horrible idea that often backfires, but that is another question.
This is an example of why lawyers warn people to get good advice in advance. When the problems arise with a will, it is usually too late to do anything to correct it, such as here. Sadly, it looks like everything was not handled correctly and families end up with disputes and bad feelings.
If the facts are as you state, there was nothing to will and your sister owns it all and you have no claim. In failing to spend a couple hundred dollars before all this was done, you made a huge mistake that probably cannot be fixed.
Having said that, spend a couple hundred dollars now to review the paperwork and be sure. It's likely too late, and you have learned an expensive lesson.