Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Pennsylvania

I have 2 children, one of which is a disabled child, we are living in my grandmothers house, when she passes away are there any laws that prevent from moving out of the house because of our disabled son, or will we have to sell the house to pay all of her medical bills


Asked on 8/21/14, 4:20 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

I am not sure what you are asking here.

If grandmother is alive then I assume title to the home is still in grandmother's name.

When grandmother dies, a personal representative will probate an estate for her depending on her assets and debts. It will be the job of the personal representative to figure out what grandmother owned and owed, pay any just debts and then distribute what is left to the people designated in the will or her heirs if she has no will.

If you are staying in the home rent free with grandmother's permission, well and good but when grandmother dies, any permission dies with her. It will then be up to the personal representative. He or she may allow you to stay in the home but may make you pay rent. It will depend on who is to inherit the home and what other assets and debts there are in the estate. It will also depend on the identity of the personal representative and your relationship to him or her.

You having a disabled child means nothing. If the house is grandmother's its grandmothers, not yours, unless you are scheduled to inherit the house upon grandmother's death. And even then, if the house is an asset and there are little or no other liquid assets and grandmother has debts, then the debts have to be paid somehow before the beneficiaries or heirs get to inherit.

You are not personally responsible for your grandmother's medical bills; your grandmother's estate is. However, if there are not enough assets in the estate, then you and any other heirs may be responsible.

I do not understand your query about laws preventing you from moving out of the house. There are no such laws. If you don't want to live in the house you are free to leave at any time. That has no bearing on any debts owed by your grandmother's estate though. As I said, the personal representative's job will be to figure out what your grandmother owned and owed, pay her bills and then distribute what is left to her heirs. If there is enough in the way of assets to only pay the bills, then the heirs get nothing. Sometimes there is not even enough to pay the bills and in that case the bills get paid in order of priority as designated by the estate laws. When the money runs out, it runs out. There is an exception though for certain kinds of debts - for example, if grandmother ran up a bill at a nursing home, the nursing home could come after the children for payment.

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Answered on 8/22/14, 2:02 am


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