Re: Who gets the house

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On 5/01/06, Traci Allen wrote:
> On 4/30/06, sharwinston wrote:
>> 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
I would advise the elderly couple to contact an attorney who
specializes in estate planning or elder law. You don't need to have
a multi-million dollar estate to need someone to help advise through
the maze of social security, medicare, medical, and medicaid. They
all have has some very strict rules as far as disposition of
property owned. If the wife is not recieving medicaid for the
extended care facility then they have a little room to work with.
the house will not be attached by the feds as long as the surving
spouse lives there. You really need someone who is familiar with
the state laws as well as the feds concerning estates and the
elderly. There are ways that they can do what you are talking about
legally but if they don't do it exactly right, the people holding
the property at the end could have some serious legal problems to
sort out.