I am executor of my brother's estate, who for the last six years before his death, had assigned his eldest daughter POA over the family home and two rental properties and the management of payments to for all his assisted living and all other financial affairs. Before anyone knew she had squandered all his savings and the proceeds from the sale of two of his rental properties on her gambling addiction and now she has moved into the family residence which was left to two siblings in the will. The siblings are in desperate need of money and want to sell the family house which is now owned by them exclusively (left to them in the will) but the errant ex POA daughter will not move out and the courts are not performing evictions due to covid etc. The siblings cannot obtain access to prepare the house to sell and are having to borrow money to pay the property taxes etc.
The extended family has decided against filing charges of elder abuse as they don't want to see her go to jail even though everyone is highly incensesd.
The errant ex POA daughter has no apparent income or means of support and will likely become homeless as no one in the family will now take her in.
What suggestions or advice can I give to the siblings ?
She won't necessarily end up incarcerated. Often, in cases such as this, instead of jail, the person is offered a period of probation, and is ordered to make restitution; she will also probably be ordered to go to Gamblers' Anonymous (or some such program), which may or may not help her in the long run. Even if she never has the the ability to pay back in full, the courts can garnish any future earnings she makes to at least give something back to the estate.
I would also think leveling charges will make getting her out of the house much, much easier. Remember, the moratorium against evictions is for non-payment of rent; I believe the courts are (virtually) starting to hear other eviction cases that aren't due to non-payment - as is the case here (owners of the home wanting to sell the property).
That she has behaved in such a manner that "she will become homeless" - as harsh as this may sound, it is on her that she has burned her bridges with her behavior; if her family allow this to continue, they might all end up in serious financial distress, and then they may all find themselves in that situation.
Tell them to call the police and start the process. If she abused her position as POA and stole from the estate, she should be held accountable.
Force her out. This is a criminal matter.
Then carry on with your wishes such as selling the home, etc.
I am so sorry that you are in this situation.
I went to Attorney General, local Police and multiple lawyers and ALL said it is a civil case and that he committed no crime that the government can go after him for. We cannot bring criminal charges against him only the government can do that.
We can sue him in civil court which would cost us thousands with no guarantee that he would pay the judgement anyways.
The system is in the favor of those that commit these obvious criminal acts but leave the victims to fend for themselves.
I too think she should be brought up on charges. I would also see what can be done about her being evicted since there are new owners of the house.
If she was a stranger who had robbed your family you would not hesitate to press charges.
It may also help the eviction process to have her in jail.
The money's gone and not recoverable, so the best thing is to prosecute and not spend another dime on her if possible.
It’s a whole different situation than what an eviction would be.
Sissy might have had an agreement with Dad & been a tenant of her Dads but he is deceased so that agreement & relationship doesn’t exist anymore.
This is more, in my experience, sheriffs Dept action than the police. I’d suggest that you approach both sheriffs office AND start to find a very experienced Realtor who is used to dealing with difficult properties. I would not have your sibling try to FSBO the house, they need a Realtor who will deal with the property and the Realtor will know of a no BS property management group that will look after the property & often. Yes it will cost but $ can all be paid from the Act of Sale proceeds. To me, your gonna have to get outsiders involved as y’all were flat not willing to get tough with her in the past & she knows that you have no spine.
I would not hesitate in getting this going cause sounds like she’s a bad addict & if she’s that AND mean spirited, I’d be concerned she can find a shady house flipper & they can craft paperwork to “own” the property via an LLC and then flip it to another scumbag LLC.
I just looked up squatters rights in our state.
This does shed new light on the situation.
Property taxes are not the obligation of the siblings; they are the obligation of the estate. Again, not a lawyer and don't know the laws of your state but until the courts are functioning again I doubt the county/city can foreclose for non-payment of taxes. Call the tax authority and explain that the estate is in limbo due to suspension of activity by the courts and ask their advice.
Other than that, all you can tell the siblings is they have to wait for the probate process to play out....and it can be months/years, especially if anyone challenges the will.
Lesson to be learned here: avoid the probate process at all costs. Put assets into a trust with a trustee to take care of things. Make sure bank accounts are joint with someone (the trustee) you can trust; when the joint owner dies the accounts go to the other joint owner(s) simply upon production of the death certificate to the bank. Or, with life insurance or IRA's, designate a beneficiary; this will bypass the probate process unless, of course, someone challenges the designation (for example, if a relative claims the person so designating was not in their right mind when they made the designation; but then they would have to go to court to initiate the challenge).
All this information is out there if you take the time to do the research.
Now If your renting or have a mortgage, those were placed on a “moratorium” on a National / federal level due to Covid. Mortgages regulated under federal statutes. For renters it was a CDC order / declaration that renters cannot be evicted due to health concerns but that directive just expired so states r allowing evictions to be filed. The rental $ from ARP still in process of going out as it been only 5-6 weeks so renters don’t have rent $ yet. Unless your city has a program to do rental assistance to “bridge” till AMR $ flows in, you’re getting evicted.
Property tax laws determine by states, so unless your state legislators want to suspend or cancel taxes due to Covid, taxes still due. The local collector can wave fees or late charges, but the tax required is state law. There’s only so much collectors can do. IMHO gonna be a bloodbath for property tax liens & sales for 2021, 2022.
Do you have any idea how easy it is for a POA (that was appointed by the person not the court), to get around prosecution like you're talking about?
The daughter was appointed POA by her father. Not by the court. So her father was the boss of how his money was being spent so she would have been answering to him, not the court.
If he had no problems with how his money was being handled for six years before his death, then it's no one's business. No court or police are going to intervene and prosecute a deceased person's child (who was appointed by them as POA) on behalf of greedy adult siblings who don't think they're inheriting enough of their brother's property. That's not gonna happen. Nor should it ever happen.
Please contact a lawyer who either specializes in estates (preferable) or family law. Your situation is a cautionary tale of making sure to give POA only to totally reliable person.
You might consider contacting one of those companies that will inspect the home, give an estimate of value, and pay on the spot. The company will then do all the remodeling and sell it. Also contact a business that will pay to haul away all furnishings in the home. Just make sure to take out any valuables that family members want to keep. The new owners should have access to their home, even with POA daughter living in it.
She has no means to keep up the house, pay taxes, or any other fees (utilities, as well). What the new owners might offer is to pay her rent in a nearby efficiency apartment, rent-a-room, or other for, let's say, 3 months. If they can just get her out and not make her homeless, an eviction judge may be more agreeable and the new owners can change locks and get their house ready for resale.
Whoever gets along with her the best should approach and be frank with her. House now legally belongs to X and X and she needs to find another place to live. Suggest they pay her rent for a few months, others will help her move out. If it goes the eviction route, rent money will no longer be on the table and she will have no place to live at all. Or better yet, ask her if she will take a small amount like a couple thousand dollars to move out by XX date - payment will be made on day she moves out and locks are changed. Ask a cop to be present for the move-out and the payment to her. She signs a paper accepting the payment to find a new place to live/understands if she returns to this house she is trespassing and may be arrested. Cop would be good witness for the no trespass order. If she'll take a little cash, you avoid eviction and the possibility she has no credit to rent an apartment even if you paid a couple mos rent. You can also scare her with a hint that some family members are considering criminal charges over abusing her dad financially.
If she has things she wants to keep and doesn't want any of you to have them (items from brother/family), then pay first month storage rent for her. She pays future rent or loses it all. You could put your name/contact on the storage when rented. If she doesn't pay, they call you, you go retrieve what you want and dispose of the rest.
This will cost the new owners a little money, but in the end it will probably be cheaper than hiring atty, going to eviction court, and be much quicker so they can recover the bigger money from sale of house.
Change the locks when the tent comes off, call the police to meet her when she comes back, and voila -- problem solved.
local police and detectives dealing with criminal elder abuse in the "special victims unit" and their response is that the errant daughter DID have legal authority to sell properties and access bank funds as POA and though she may have misapproptiated the assets, the owner of the assets is now deceased and they said in order for them to prosecute a crime there must be a victim and the victim is dead so they cannot prosecute. My reason for contacting the police was to set up a pre packaged situation that the owner siblings merely had to agree to in order for prosecution to proceed so the POA thief daughter could be removed from the property by arrest. The silly detectives recommended that
the matter be pursued civilally with a law suite which is just plain stupid.
Apparently it is pretty easy to get away with elder abuse and now the thief daughter in possession of the house without permission of the current owner siblings now wants to challenge the will which left the property to the other siblings. FYI. There have been zero dollars charged or paid for executor fees.
The notion that the police cannot prosecute a crime unless there is a live victim available is *obvious* tosh.
Just think it through.
lies, are not doing any evictions no matter the cause or reason. The Sherriffs offices have simply shut down the eviction operations. I am told that judges have granted eviction orders but the judges do not control the sherriffs. so ? ? ?
They, not you, are now the owners of a home and will need to figure out the best way to proceed in selling the house. This particular inherited property came with problems and it is THEIR problem to sort it out. Has absolutely nothing to do with you. If siblings complain to you, direct them to police department, eviction court, or tell them to find an attorney. They may have their own money problems, but in order for them to make money off the sale of the house, they may have to borrow (to make money, you spend money). You have no say in the matter any longer. Your duty is done.
With covid issues this past year, MANY property owners found themselves in similar situation. Someone living in their property and eviction courts were shut down. No rents collected - had to pay housing costs out of their own pockets. At any rate, this is no longer your problem to be involved in.
Overall gist is if property has taxes that go unpaid when due in full, then county / city places it on public tax sale list. There is a Notice in newspaper on all properties delinquent for that year. Notice also goes up on board @ courthouse. Each listing delinquent has parcel & PPIN info & a brief legal description & taxes owed. Usually Notice is it’s own separate section printed in the paper 30 & 60 days b4sale. Gives folks full legal opportunity to pay b4 sale. Some places do the listing on line.
Trend is for co. to contract with online service. GovEase is the big player in this and they do online sales in dzs of states. If it’s not on line, then it’s old school butts in chairs at the courthouse in which the entire list is sold off 1 at a time and you sit there waiting for days till property you want comes up and you bid to win. Most places require you to in full front $ in order to bid. So if your looking at $9k tax Bill you have to put up abt $9300 to get to bid. If your bid is not the winner, takes co abt 3-6 weeks to send your $ back. Plus co needs full paperwork & tax ID to register. I do tax sales, it is NOT at all casual ime.
Say you’re high bidder. Then you get tax sale lien on property for that tax year. But you do NOT YET own it.
There is a set by state law redemption period. Most tend to be 3 years. So if the property is delinquent for 3 full tax cycles, it can be redeemed by someone who holds all 3 yrs of tax liens in yr 4. If u have only 1 and your in position year #1, you pay off yr 2 & yr 3 then file in chancery court for a tax sale deed as you hold full redemptions. If your year 2 or 3 normally, you wait an extra 30 days to see what #1 will do. If they do nothing, then you go in and pay off others redemptions. And file for tax deed. If none of year 1,2,3 want to redeem, then anyone can pay off the old redemptions, file to get a tax sale deed. Redemption list published usually 30 days b4 yearly tax sale, but actual redemption usually can’t happen till 60/120 days after tax sale. Patience.
Most folks do tax sales to make $ off the interest. They do NOT want the property. Interest is high, some places 28%. Seems to be 70/80% of properties the owners end up paying past due. In my experience the ones that aren’t paid tend to have issues.... like stuck in probate, owner MIA, secured liens, multiple owners (& 1 will be incarcerated), it’s in bad knife & gun neighborhood or there is an issue that makes property difficult (no egress, its wetlands, in floodplain or right of way to a railroad). Or something dramatic happened in an area, like a Hurricane. Where I am folks walked away after H. Katrina... took their insurance $ and didn’t look back and didn’t clear the lot. I did my first sale to bid on a property I knew prestorm that was abandoned & derbris filled from Katrina.
Now if you are the old owner or heir to the property & want to sell a property with past due taxes and tax liens issued, then to get a clear title, the taxes have to be paid and the tax lein holder's have to get paid to release their ability to do a redemption. For Prevent47, if her siblings want to sell the property and the buyer needs a clear clean title, then the tax debt has to be dealt with for that to happen. Sometimes folks will buy a property with crap title but it runs risk. Banks now won’t do lending if title isn’t clear.
tax sales sound simple but reality quite different is what I found.
If he was in a nursing home, the cost of care averages $85,000 to $90,000 a year, and one is not allowed to own any more than something like $2,000 in the bank. If the properties were in HIS name, there is an estate recovery law which anything that goes into probate will go toward the cost of his care. Medicaid is a racket.
I don't understand all the circumstances, but put it this way--if he were in a nursing home they will take all his assets anyway. My suggestion is stop and move on. If she is a gambler, let her live her life and if she becomes homeless, that's on her. We are all adults.
Just how is it a "racket"? Medicaid is for the truly needy. IF there are assets, they SHOULD be used to pay for or repay Medicaid (TAX dollars that WE all pay) at TOD.
I didn't realize the full scope of the "plan" when the EC atty set up the trust, etc. It wasn't until I had to start using it to pay for her MC facility that it became clear. He told me NOT to feed the funds into her account, but rather through my own. I didn't want to do that because it would increase my income and subject ME to the capital gains. No thanks! So I deposited what was needed to cover the balance of the "rent" and any other needs into her account. Later he told me to be in touch when she has to move to a NH. THAT's when the light dawned. The "plan" was to "hide" this money and let us inherit it.
I made my decision then and there. I also didn't consult with my brothers (I honestly doubt they understood ANY of it anyway) although one was also POA (never used it) and both were trustees with me on the trust. My decision was firm. If mom had money to pay for NH, it would be paid. Unless/until all the funds were used, I would NOT file for Medicaid.
This is why Medicaid can't provide for everyone who needs it (along with the ridiculously low income limits and other red tape, including most only allowing funds for NH care and NH mostly only take those who need skilled nursing - this leaves out SO many who NEED financial help to cover the cost of facilities and those who are relatively healthy but have dementia!) Turns out the facility mom was in would keep her to the end anyway, so it was all pointless! The only good part is it was well invested and the ROI was SO good that the balance remained more or less static, despite having to take out at least 4k/month!
Anyone who has assets, liquid or property, SHOULD be paying their own way. WE have no right to inherit so other tax payers can cover the costs.
While it doesn’t really answer your question I am curious, if the family home was left to two of the siblings (neither of which were the POA) were the rental properties to be left to this daughter, who was POA? I ask because if that’s the case her actions could be looked at a little differently, though not excused. There was some reason he chose to make her POA and trusted her with all of his financial affairs. You don’t say there are huge bills left unpaid, like the facility he was living in so that’s good. Did she move into his home after he passed or prior, that may or may not make a difference legally but if it’s been her home for a long time that does put the way you move her out into a different light.
Ultamatley wether the estate has been finalized or not it sounds like this home is either the property of his estate (managed by you) or the sole property of two of his children and the daughter now living in it has no actual claim to the property. I would think it in everyone’s, including hers, best interest to move her out ASAP she is technically a squatter. Maybe that will take more effort and time if it has been her residence for 5, 10 + years, I’m not sure but I would start by presenting the dilemma of a squatter with no ownership or lease who won’t leave, it might be the same as moving a non paying roommate or mate mate out when things go awry or perhaps someone you let stay on your couch while they found another place who never left. Who’s paying the utility bills?
I would try to remove the emotions of a family member with an addiction from the equation and try to react the way you (or they) might with that drifter friend who won’t leave and research from there. I think the advice not to even bring up in any legal type dealings the fact that she was POA and stole money, stay on the high road there and stick to the current facts.
Good luck, you are being a good brother and uncle trying to navigate all of this for your family, your brother chose well on executor.
I have reported him for elder abuse 4 times (they only go talk to her or him) never talked to eye witnesses that he has drugged her, sold off her possessions etc. I have called the law repeatedly and they say they can't do anything to him. This is the state of Arkansas. They told me the prosecutor says someone needs guardianship to remove my brother. I obtained a letter from her doctor in order to get my step dad and emergency hearing to be her guardian. The letter states she can't make decisions because she is a harm to herself, she is mentally incompetent due to progressive dementia. I have been working with my step dads attorney as has my sister to back our step dad for guardianship. My brother has criminal record and has been on drugs since 16. He hasn't worked most of his life (he is 63) he got my mom to write a 4000 check and traded my step dads tractor for him a new truck. And the law says they can't do anything because the prosecutor won't prosecute. Because they talked to my mom (who has documented dementia) and she says its okay that he did that. The sheriff hands are tied due to the prosecutor saying he won't prosecute.
My dad left a 100,000 life insurance when he died. It was in an account with my moms name and mine to be kept for us three kids when she passed. She gave a total of 60,000 out of that to my brother. I was advised to move that money so he didn't get it all as POA. So I did. It is just sitting. But I am certain he will try to get to it through my mom.
She has funds in her checking but he is rapidly draining it and her health insurance comes out of that and she has a pain pump installed in her body and if he drains the account, her insurance will not be paid and she can't get her pain pump filled. Its such a mess. I have never seen a county that a prosecutor won't help to protect a senior at risk.
My step dads attorney filed papers for emergency guardianship and that county would no accept e-filing but snail mail and it could be another 2 weeks for EMERGENCY hearing. My step dad needs back in that house but my brother has it where he can't right now. As my brother took my step dads extra credit card and ran up 3100.00 in charges and my step dad confronted him about that and selling his tractor. My brother provoked my 84 year old step dad and he hit him so my brother had him arrested and now my step dad can't go on property that he owns. Isnt the law crazy?
Meanwhile, I am protecting what is left of my dads life insurance and I will not let my brother get the rest of that. There are witnesses that adult protective services would not talk to that have first hand knowledge of my brother drugging my mother. It disgusts me what that county fails to do to protect at risk seniors.
Sooner or later these dark souls will be dealt with and that's where I stand on it. I can sleep at night knowing I did everything I could to get justice by the courts of the land and must now leave it to God.
So keep working legally on it and I hope this woman will be removed from the house and face the consequences whatever they may be or she may continue on and hurt others and herself.