Is Deed of Trust from Ohio valid in Texas?

You may hit some snags. Is it his property or the property of the Trust? My mother has life tenant status and the language in the trust paperwork says the house cannot be sold until her death. UH-OH you better read the entire trust paperwork. You may have to "undo" the trust to sell the house.

Thank goodness that's not the case here. His is a revokable trust and though he's in poor healthy, my dad is in his right mind, so he can decide to sell the house and use me as his agent with my POA, so that's not a problem. My worry is if anything should happen to his mind, will I still be able to act on his behalf in Texas using the Trust written in Ohio?

Revocable trusts are fully accessible by Medicaid. PLEASE see a lawyer.

Dusty - you know once Dad moves he will become a resident of the state of TX and you really need to get his legal updated to work for within TX law. In general presenting a document with a notary stamp or attorney (not with a TX license) will be viewed as unacceptable. This is especially true of the banks, they won't care if you have a DPOA or trustee document, if it ain't done in TX, you are toast.

I'm going to suggest going to an elder law attorney in your area of TX. This site has a drop down list of elder law attorney, so you can look there for names. I would take all the documents for dad along with a history on him with DOB,his marriages and the details on that and also all the DOB on his kids. If he was divorced then a copy of the decree, or if he did probate on a deceased wife, etc. All this so Dad can get a new DPOA, MPOA and also a "Guardian in case of Incapacity" done (my mom's attorney in TX suggested this and really you want to add it to the list); do a codicil to his will (yeah I know there is a trust but just in case something falls outside of the trust years from now) and then whatever is needed for the trust or for dissolving the old one and doing a new one.

But I would ask the TX legal about their co-ordinating the details with Ohio. When the house sells the proceeds goes to TX legal and this $ pays for all the costs for the new TX legal. So Dad is not out of pocket for new legal - maybe this approach will be an easier way to pay for what is needed?

You know it is my firm belief that if they live long enough, they will run out of money and the caregivers (like your bro & SIL) will run out of ability to provide the level of care needed for DAD and Dad will need to go to a NH and eventually apply for Medicaid.(Unless you are truly generationally wealthy.) Speak frankly with the elder attorney regarding how to best structure Dad's assets & the proceeds from the property sale for how TX runs it's Medicaid program & does probate. Good luck and keep a sense of humor going in all this.

Thanks Igloo...all great advice. How long can he "visit" my brother and SIL before he's no longer a resident of Ohio? His mail still goes to Ohio (older brother forwards it onto him) and he filed taxes in Ohio.

Dustie

Dusty - I would not change his residency until after the house and any other property in Ohio is sold. I would imagine that he has some sort of "over-65" exemptions on taxes or reductions on utilities - so you want all those to be there in force till the house is sold.

You know if there is a banking group with a presence in OH and then also in TX, think about Dad's opening an account there now and get any income direct deposited into the new account now. Dad goes ahead and closes out any OH only bank accounts. You want to make sure the account is POD - pay on death. The account would be in Dad's name & SS # but with you as a signature & you want something with on-line everything so you & dad and another family can monitor. I would imagine it would be POD to you since you are the point person for finances for him and are his executor in his will. Personally I would go with a smaller regional bank rather than a Chase or BoA as they tend to go overboard in caution in dealing with elders POA situations (and not in your favor) but you may not have a real choice for banks in both states. You want to take the current Ohio DPOA now and have it filed with the account so that there is no future issue from OH on this. Then when he officially moves to TX you have the new & OK for TX DPOA done too - I'd just hold onto this one unless the bank demands it.

Igloo...that's great advice. Fortunately it's already done, since he is with Chase bank and they are both in Ohio and Texas. I didn't even think about that being a benefit. I'm POA on all his accounts and do monitor them online. We've been doing that for nearly 5 years now, ever since mom died.

I've been doing some reading up on TX law and it seems as if they will be willing to honor the Ohio trust if anything happens to dad as long as it was done by a licensed attorney and there's no one contesting anything, which there shouldn't be.