Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Oklahoma
''equal'' parts
My question is as follows:
A parent's will specifies that their estate shall be divided equally among 4 siblings.
The parent is in a hospital then transferred to a nursing home. Total time is 6.5 years.
There is one sibling that is performing all of the caretaking. (the other siblings live in another state)
The sibling that is doing the caretaking eventually transfers to a half-time job (from a full-time job) in order to adequately take care of the parent.
When the will goes through probate, should the lost wages, due to working fewer hours, be considered when determining what constitutes ''4 equal parts.''
And, can the time that the caretaker spent in caring for the parent be assigned a cash value when considering the ''4 equal parts?''
Must the parent have spelled out in the will that if one child undertook all the burden of caretaking, that this must be given due consideration when determining ''4 equal parts?''
Thanks for your help.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: ''equal'' parts
Thank you for your question. The short answer is that the will cannot be modified after the maker's death to accomodate for this type of circumstance. Your post does not indicate why the sibling caretaker would need to go 1/2 time to care for a parent who is in a nursing home and presumably being cared for there. If the sibling caretaker is truly performing needed care (as opposed to what might be expected from any caring child, ie. visits, running occassional errands, taking to doctor) then if the mother is still competent she could either make a change in her Will or execute some agreement to hire and pay the caretaking sibling at $X per month to be paid from her estate. This would then be a debt of the estate to be paid after the death as other debts are paid. If she is not competent, you might seek to have a Guardianship over the parent and obtain court approval for payment of these extra-ordinary tasks as fees.
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