Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Pennsylvania

Residential Trust Agreement

My mother had her lawyer draw up a residential trust agreement (life estate) and executed (signed) the deed for me so in case anything happened to her my siblings could not kick me out and I always would have a place to hang my hat. I have lived with my mom in her house for 3 years and about 6 months after moving in she fell and broke her hip and after the hip replacement and anestithia she was never the same physically or mentally. She has severe dementia and is confined to a wheel chair although if not watched 24/7 will try to get up and walk. My brother and sister say they are poa and hired a new lawyer after her lawyer reliquished his license to practice as he has some legal issues of his own. The new lawyer or my siblings will not show me any documents and tell me that the residential trust was never funded because the old lawyer & my mom never took the next steps because there is not any new deed recorded with the county rendering the life estate not worth the paper it is written on. I know there was a deed executed (signed), witnessed and notarized and in pa it does not have to be recorded immediately. the only trouble is they have ALL the documents and since they never liked the life estate I guess they can destroy it HELP


Asked on 3/26/07, 10:44 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Solomon Weinstein Solomon Weinstein, Esquire

Re: Residential Trust Agreement

You have a very complicated and difficult situation. I would advise you to immediately contact an attorney to review your situation and to determine what action to take to protect your interests. If the document was executed there should be a record in someone's file. If it was notarized at least you may be able to determine the date it was done.

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Answered on 3/26/07, 12:46 pm


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