Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Georgia

Your situation is far too complex to answer here, and you should see a lawyer immediately.

However, once the house was deeded away it was no longer part of the will. In doing a series of transactions without solid legal advice you actually likely outsmarted yourself and learned why people should not plan estates without lawyers.

The self-dealing by him under a POA may be challengeable if you can prove she lacked mental capacity when she signed it (although since you never even mentioned that so that may not help you unless that is the case).

This is a disaster. Your family never should have done this without seeking legal advice. A lot of heartache could have been avoided. Now, it might be too late to undo some of the transactions.

I don't know where your brother lived, but if he got divorced, in most equitable distribution states, whatever was acquired by inheritance stays separate, so his ex-wife was not going to get it if that is the case and you did not need to take his name off of the deed. And getting it out of your mother's name was an even bigger mistake. She did not need to give away her property to protect it. With proper planning, your mother could have kept her assets.

Putting it in your sister's name solely was a mistake as once she died, this property would have passed as per her will or the state intestacy laws where she lived. This means that her husband and children would inherit and unless you have something in writing, her husband's assurances are worthless and mean nothing. There is nothing that can be done about him changing the locks or shacking up with his new girlfriend. He can do what he wants with the house now and that includes selling it if he wants to do so.

A power of attorney could be challenged, but it ends at death. I would need to see the exact language in the power of attorney. Depending on the language, the power of attorney may or may not be allowed to make gifts and he may not have been able to make such lavish gifts to himself. The executor of your mother's estate could bring a legal action against him and seek to impose what is called a constructive trust against him and try to recover as much of the money as possible for your mother's estate for distribution to your mother;'s heirs.

Unfortunately, its now going to be expensive and difficult. Your sister's husband is going to argue that your mother was in her right mind throughout all of this and wanted to make gifts to your deceased's sister's children. You will have to show that not only did he end up with everything in contravention of your mother's will, but that there was fraud, undue influence by your sister's husband or that your mother lacked mental capacity. Your nieces and nephews did not do anything wrong and it may be impossible to upset those transactions unless your nieces and nephews knew about it and did something to procure a change in the beneficiary of the insurance policies. To prove lack of mental capacity, you are going to have to talk with your mother's physicians and those that knew her very well.

What I would do is have the executor of your mother's estate speak to a probate, estate & trust litigation attorney and discuss the possibility of taking legal action against your sister's husband. You will need an attorney in the county/state where your mother resided, not necessarily where your sister's husband lives. In deciding whether to bring a legal action, you will have to consider whether the assets to be recovered into the estate will justify the cost of litigation. It makes no sense to spend $20,000 if you are only going to recover $20,000 or less. However, sometimes a lawsuit can be used as a bargaining chip. Your sister's husband, even though he obviously has some money, is not going to want to spend it all on lawyers, and it is hoped that he will see the futility of fighting and give back some of his ill-gotten gains. So discuss this with the attorney.

In addition, the decision to get the house out of her name when your mother got ill could have led to horrible results as far as any government services (Medicaid, etc) -- it could have disqualified her for benefits. Providers could have sued her and whoever owned the property for the payment of bills. Theoretically, this could stil be the case if there are outstanding bills (which I am sure you know ALL need to be paid before anyone inherits anything). This situation was royally screwed up in the beginning because people thought they could outsmart and avoid paying bills by moving property around.