Legal Question in Elder Law in New York

Re: Uncle taking financial advantage of grandma

Yes.

You say he "wanted to sell them and convinced her to sign them over to him" but he didn't give her any $$?

GET AN ATTORNEY NOW before she becomes either incompetent (or passes away). This will be alot less $$ than bringing an Article 81 later.

What is he paying her for? You said a salary but will he now say it is for the houses? You MUST straighten this out right away or once she passes you will receive nothing.

Re: Uncle taking financial advantage of grandma

No, realistically under these facts you will probably have very little chance of making any claim against your uncle after grandma is gone.

The judge will ask, "why didn't you do anything while mom was alive? Why are you waiting until after she died to speak up?" You will have almost zero chance of prevailing in a court of law against your uncle. The court will assume that whatever is happening now is with your grandmom's full consent.

If it's important enough for you and there's enough money at stake, you need to proceed under Article 81 of the NY Mental Hygiene Law and ask the court to appoint a responsible and objective person, which may or may not be someone in the family, to be the Guardian of the Person and Property (or perhaps only the Guardian of the Property), which gives another person complete legal authority to control the assets of someone who is mentally infirmed.

Since your uncle will no doubt contest the proceedings, you can expect from beginning to end that this will cost many, many thousands of dollars; perhaps $10,000 to $30,000; hard to tell, depending on how much money is at stake, the party who wins is many times the side who spends the most money hiring expert medical and financial witnesses and smart trial lawyers. Accountants can be hired to demonstrate how uncle was abusing his position of trust over the years, etc etc etc.

Good luck.

Rick Bryan

New York, NY