Re: Who gets the house

More | Report Post

Here's my $0.02: You do not say when the will[s] was made. If
the will was made when the testator (person who makes a will) was
fully competent and the will was properly witnessed as required
under the laws of your state, the will absolutely controls.

Furthermore, as far as I know, the law in all 50 states requires
that conveyances of real property be in writing (deed).

In many states, upon the person's death: if the person received
state-assisted medical care (i.e. in California, it's Medi-Cal),
the State will bill the person's estate for the cost of coverage
pursuant to the laws/regulations of their state. If the bill is
not paid by the estate, the State will lien the real property.
(Yes, I have heard there are "ways around this.")

Bottom line: If the person has already written a valid will, the
will controls. Just because you have conservatorship of the
person while they are alive does not mean you get to write another
will naming you as the beneficiary.

Since you apparently do not understand what a conservatorship is,
just google: [your state] + conservatorship. Conservatorship laws
vary only slightly from state to state.

The house goes to the niece IF the will is valid --
conservatorship or no conservatorship. Of course, if the real
property is slapped with a State lien, then the niece will have to
deal with the lien issues.

If the house is deeded by the elderly person to someone else and
the transfer is void of any fraud, oppression, undue influence,
etc., then it's not in the estate at her death, and there would be
no house for the niece to get.

On 4/30/06, Traci Allen wrote:
> On 4/30/06, sharwinston wrote:
>> You say you have a lawyer. You should be asking your lawyer
>> these questions.
>>
>> On 4/30/06, Traci Allen wrote:
>>> My husband and I have conservatorship of an elderly couple.
>>> Acutally our neighbors who have no family other than a
>>> niece who is in her late 70's with medical trouble and
>>> lives in anther state. we are in california, we were told
>>> by our lawyer that the conservatorship over rides the wills
>>> and in the wills it state that the house would go to the
>>> niece, who has told us she would sell it to us when the
>>> time is appropriate. we have been told that the state,
>>> (medical) would take the house because the wife is in long
>>> term convelescent care. the husband still resides in the
>>> home. We take him everyday to have lunch with his wife.
>>> There are no outstanding medical bills, so how can the
>>> state take away thier home? both had told us before the
>>> wife became ill and in convelescent care that we could have
>>> the house because they had no one to give it to, but
>>> because of thier ages we didnt do anything as far as
>>> changing the deed for we didnt want anyone to think the
>>> wrong way and our main concern was thier care and well
>>> being. Any advise? thank you
>
> the lawyer was for the conservatorship process, but thank you
> for your time anyways.