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Gram & Gramp have a condo in Clearwater. Gramp has passed, Gram is with us. They have a Trust set up, upon both of their passing, the condo was to be sold and profits split between the 3 creepy kids. It's my understanding that the Trust is only valid upon her passing. Oldest son wanted to buy their condo. Gram said absolutely not. Oldest son drove from MO to FL to bring her to MI, talked her into selling him the condo for $30K. Hubs and I agreed that it's fully her condo to do with what she pleases, she could give it to a stranger if she wants. Gram changes her mind again, no sale. One week later and several phone calls from the Oldest son, sale is on. Son sends check for $30K, gram deposits it. (We are currently in the midst of the 10 day wait for it to clear) Gram talks to her sister who says the sale price is crazy, she could get way more. Essentially the deal Oldest Son made with gram was he would forfeit his 1/3 of the sale, and the $30k would be split between the 2 sisters. Sort of as if the condo was $45K...however, only paying $30 means his is essentially getting his 1/3. In the middle of all this, I told gram and hubby that it's only been 6 months since Gramp passed, now is not the time to make big decisions like this and it should be revisited next summer. Now the sale is off AGAIN! She wants to get to the bank asap and send him his money back. BTW..he re-mortgaged his house to get the $30K. At this point, I think it's pretty crappy to back out. Any thoughts are appreciated!!!!

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Nothing wrong with trying to find out what she really wants to do: in a perfect world, as a perfect POA, your husband would be able to read her mind and act on that. However, in this world…

Judging what decisions she is able to make competently for herself and which have, honestly, got beyond her is pretty much the name of the game as her POA. So at this point, when to the objective observer she hasn't a clue what she really wants to happen with the condo, as long as you keep her money safe and don't let anyone rip her off you can't go far wrong. Best of luck with it :)
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Thanks Ladies! Yes, the hubby has power of attorney for her finances. She seems to let anyone influence her with enough talking. Somedays we do feel a bit young for all of this! We look at each other and say "Aren't we the kids?" LOL! We are going to start taking a little more exercise over these kinds of decisions. CLEARLY she's not capable! But we want to honor what grampa wanted and do what's right for her future and her financial stability. She's got a nice fat cushion, but you just never know what kind of care she will need in the near future. When I asked why she changed her mind AGAIN, she said, " he's not trustworthy, he stole money from me." "When!?" I asked. "When he was 17." she said. I asked her just how long someone has to pay for their mistakes? Because I think 50 years is plenty! I guess we've been giving her too much input, she can't really handle a big decision like this. Her husband took care of everything. Making her take control over this was probably a bad idea on our part.
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Just looked at your profile. So this is hubbys Granny.......How nice for you. And you're so young too! I like Flyer's advice. Get these knuckleheads to use legitimate real estate sales contracts so the show has to go on.

Just curious.....Does Hubs have much influence over his granny? Anyway to starting getting finances out of her hands. You don't mention dementia but at that age reasoning abilites aren't always what they should be. My Mom at 84 can be sharp as a tack on some issues but then get sucked into a phone scam an hour later. Luckily, she is letting me take over more and more decisions and finances.
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Well… why on earth did he remortgage his house?

This sounds like a ticking bomb to me. If at all possible, I'd recommend putting everyone back to the status quo ante and taking professional advice on how best to manage your grandmother's assets. Does anyone have power of attorney for her?
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This is a tough one... to sell or not to sell. What is the monthly condo fee?

And has the homeowner insurance been upped to cover the fact that place is vacant? Reason for higher insurance is if there is a water leak that could effect the condo unit below your Grandparent's unit. If the insurance company wasn't notified that the place is vacant, they might not pay for any repairs.

Here is something everyone needs to think about big time.... what if Grandma needs to apply for Medicaid within the next 5 years? If the Medicare office notices that the condo was sold below market value to a relative, that would cause some major issues with Grandma getting Medicaid.

By the way, any real estate offers need to be in writing. I would hire a real estate Agent in Clearwater to give a current market value of the condo, and have him/her sell the place, then place the profits into an account for Grandma.
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