Will leaving estate to me by my mom was rendered invalid due to original will being a contract. Do I have a claim for taking care of mom?

I've never heard of a will being interpreted as a contract. Did the attorneys tell you why it was a will and not a contract?

There are distinct signatory issues between the two. Wills are signed by whoever made them - husband, wife individually or collectively. They are notarized and witnessed, but those signatures don't make the witnesses or notaries party to a contract. They merely ATTEST to the fact that they've witnessed the testator/testatrix's (parties who made the will and expressed their intents for disposition of their assets) execution of the Will.

Contracts, on the other hand, identify in the first paragraph the individuals or entities who/which are entering into the contract, and each signs, individually if they're individual parties or by an authorized corporate officer if they're corporate entities. Contracts are also notarized and witnessed.

I really can't understand how a will can be a contract. UNLESS the explanation of why you're being made a beneficiary contains terms such as compensation for care. Did you sign the will in any capacity? Who drafted the second will? Is there a provision revoking any and all previous Wills?

Still, a will and a contract each serve different purposes. This just doesn't make any sense at all.

Can you explain what made the first will a contract vs being a regular will. Also since your father has already passed, did the first will have beneficiaries after him?

Okay, if I am understanding the situation - your parents made a joint will in effect guaranteeing that neither could change what they had agreed to, with each other at the time, would happen with their estate. I had no idea such a thing was possible - and neither had my father or he would have done it with my mother. Looking at it from my own parents situation. My parents wills left each other everything. Then when the survivor passed everything was to go to their three children equally. My mother has been unhappy with my oldest brother for years. My father was aware of this but he felt differently and on a number of occasions - in my presence, made her promise not to tinker with the will - and she did promise. Sure enough three months after my dad passed mom changed the will to give her church a cut. Then a short time later she got mad at my brother again and made plans to change the will to cut my brother out. I talked to her and reminded her of her promise and how important it was to my father that all three children were treated equally and was able to stop her. Since then mom has changed her will again - this time to take her church back out when they made her mad. And on several more occasions she has made plans to remove my brother but again, I have been able to talk her out of it. Sooo - could your situation be something similar? That it was important to your father that your mother not be able to change what they had agreed upon, down the road? Don't get me wrong - I have no comment about what's right or wrong, who's "derserving" and who isn't. Im just guessing at the motivation behind such a drastic step to ensure a will remain unchanged.

If your brother had any decency he would sign his portion over to you in acknowledgement of the care you gave to your parents. As he hasn't, I imagine he will fight any claim you try to bring against the estate tooth and nail, and the fact you had no written caregiving agreement will probably go against you in court. The value of the estate will line the pockets of lawyers, leaving you worse off than if you just accepted things as they are.

As I think I will take some hits saying a sibling should not be punished for not being able to provide in home care. To clarify - this same sibling should be doing everything they possibly can be doing to help out and support any sibling who is able to provide in home care. As it relates to my own situation - none of us are caring for my mom in our homes. Yet - for going on six years I have been the one doing everything else and my mom being a handful - and having dementia - even that has been beyond difficult. One brother has begun to be a little more helpful in the past eight months. The other brother still does next to nothing. We are all local and both brothers are retired with no children at home. So yes, I know what it feels like to have siblings who don't help.

Thanks for providing the additional information. I now understand why the attorneys have advised as they have.

There's a lot of analysis that could be done, but I think this is the jist of the heir issue:

"The terms of the wills require that the after the death of either of them, the residue of probate assets is to be devised and bequeathed to the surviving spouse, and upon the death of the surviving spouse, the residue of the surviving spouse’s estate is to be devised and bequeathed to their sons."

Using standard contractual language, anything to the contrary notwithstanding, this clause seems to disinherit you entirely. The only consideration might be that you weren't born when that will was made.

It does state "sons" - are there additional brothers involved even if they aren't contesting the subsequent Will?

I took a quick look at the statutory citations, but I wouldn't feel comfortable commenting other than on a cursory basis. Based on some of the language, I think this is something that needs to be researched by an experienced Iowa attorney.

However, this is one of the strangest wills I've seen; there were definitely some things desired to be accomplished at the time, but I suspect you'll never know what your parents' intents were.

I would think, briefly and w/o going into a more in depth analysis, that if you wanted to challenge the will, and if you still seek an opinion from a qualified attorney, you need one who's familiar not only with estate planning but with contractual law and contractual challenges....someone from a well qualified, firm with very, very experienced attorneys. This isn't a matter for a solo practitioner of elder law - it's not necessarily even elder law.

It is unfortunate that there are these conflicts after your mother's death. I do think though that when she executed the new Will after your father's death, she was in fact breaking if not challenging the terms of the original Will. It's also unfortunate that such a provision was ever included - it's very binding.

I sense a change of direction - the wind is blowing differently now. I'm glad I didn't put any more time into attempting to help this poster.

Yes, a quick left onto "unfair avenue". And for the record, echoes - I agree with you. That's not my point! To imply that I have any knowledgable opinion contrary to what your father wanted i.e. "He would not want my mom out in the woods alone" well, honestly I'm not following as how you've come to any conclusion regarding my suggesting different, is just wrong. I was merely giving conjecture on the reasons why a contract vs a typical will. I apologize if you think I was implying anything else. I will say your cut/paste from whatever reference muddied the waters - putting quotations does not indicate where the material came from - simply that you were quoting and I think it was fair to assume you were indeed quoting the actual will. Regardless - I'm gonna bow out as this has gone from a question/answer thing to a bit of a rant. Best of luck to you.

@Rainmom - I'm stressed too. I didn't read your posts clearly. I haven't slept & I'm so used to not sleeping cause the last few months my mom was in terrible pain. This all came as a surprise to me. I didn't think for one minute my bro would contest the will but he has a greedy wife. That was a big mistake on my part. They are also lying about stuff & accusing me of things which are not true as they gear up for a legal case. That hurts more than anything. The law is the law but the accusations and lies are another thing. 2 of their sons know their grandma was giving me her property but they suddenly cannot recall the convo. None of my moms wishes are going to fulfilled. Not one single one & that is killing me too.

As for "But I feel obligated to uphold my dads wishes" -- I think if your dad could see you now, he would change his mind. Like you said, circumstances change. I also agree with you - I don't know why people think everything has to be equal.

Thank you & take care

@Garden artist NO NO NO

"The terms of the wills require that the after the death of either of them, the residue of probate assets is to be devised and bequeathed to the surviving spouse, and upon the death of the surviving spouse, the residue of the surviving spouse’s estate is to be devised and bequeathed to their sons."

NO sons -- that is copied and pasted from a link. Go back and read my first answer. I also mentioned in another post to rainmom. I'm sorry it was not clear - I thought it was.