Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Washington
Brother ignored will and took advantage of quit claim
My Mother made a new will two months, before her death (Feb 2001) and at the same time did a quit claim with a life estate. The will states that, My brother and sister and I, were beneficiaries of her real and personal property, just as she told me, that she had done, shortly after making this will. The quit claim contained my brother and sister-in-laws names. Shortly before my mother death, my brother(the executer of her estate) told me that the quit claim was done and put in his name to protect the house, against liens from the nursing home. After my mothers death, he denied making this statement, and he and my sister-in-law took advantage of the quit claim and took the house. My mother did not have an affectionate
relationship with my sister-in-law, and my mother expressed the fear,many times, that she might try to take her house, or wind up with her house. In that this has occurred,
with my brothers blessing, it has caused my sister and I, enormous grief and mental torment. I believe that they manipulated and coersed, my mother into making this quit
claim deed. This did not go into probate. Is it to late to do anything?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Brother ignored will and took advantage of quit claim
It's not too late to challenge the situation, but to have any reasonable chance of success, you will need proof and will need to move quickly.
Re: Brother ignored will and took advantage of quit claim
Whatever the motivation for making the quitclaim deed, the title and how it is held takes precedence over any contrary intent expressed in the will. In other words, since your mother transferred the property to your brother and his wife prior to her death, she no longer had a house for the will to pass on upon her death. She could not give away that which she did not own, and if the deed was legally given and the transfer properly effected, the will would not nullify that transaction - in the absence of fraud, which, as stated by Mr. Cruikshank, would require very persuasive evidence to successfully assert.
Bottom line is both the deed and the will may be relied upon by a court to divine Mom's wishes as to her home, and since the deed was filed and the will was not, the court is likely to give it greater consideration and weight.
Probably the most efficient way to approach this dilemma would be to enter the will to probate and raise the issue of Mom's intent underlying the quitclaim deed in the probate proceedings. Keep in mind that (to your potential advantage) the court is not likely to be sympathetic to a transfer designed just to avoid a creditor (the nursing home). Thus, your best argument is possibly that Mom (and brother) tried to do something underhanded and deceptive, which should be reversed to effect her true intent. Do you really want to make that argument publicly, though?
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