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My mom has dementia/Alzheimer’s.

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It depends. If not judged incompetent and revocable trust, your mother can make changes. What kind of changes?
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He can amend his own trust, but if it's a joint trust, and isn't an irrevocable one, his wife's participation would depend on mental status as GSA writes.

As GSA asks, what changes does he want to make? If they're changes to beneficiaries, disinheritance or serious issues, he would need an amendment, or "restated" trust.

If he wants to address who gets what, that might possibly be done by a memorandum. Ours specifies certain limited changes that can be addressed by a memorandum, prepared properly, and within a certain time frame.
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My step dad and my moms original trust I believe was a joint one. Made many 20-30 yrs ago. Last year he decided to redo it and went to a different attorney to make a new trust.
This is because in the original trust with my mom everything was suppose to be equally decided amount 4 if my step brothers and my biological brother, so 6 of us. But he wants only his 4 sons to get the house.

My mom has dementia/Alzheimer’s so he was told he needed to get a psychiatrist to evaluate her to prove she is incompetent. He did this behind my back. My mom was not completely incompetent. But the psychiatrist came over and my step dad woke her up and in her groggy state the psychiatrist asked her some questions and he signed off that she’s is incompetent.
So he was able to make a whole new trust.

This is going against her wishes of wanting to be equally fair and have things decided equally among the 6 children. This makes me feel very upset and very sad for my mom. She is originally from Korea and does not read and write English.

At this point my main concern is that she is going to be taken cared for if my step dad were to pass away first. He told me that his 3rd son will take care of things and has power of attorney for my mom if he passes first. I feel this is not right! Because my she is not his biological mom and my step dad and my mom got remarried after most of us were adults.

I want to protect her rights and make sure she is taken care of the way I know she wants. My step brother and my step dad are trying to put her in a nursing home or care home without even talking to me and my brother about this. I just accidentally found out.

This is so upsetting and I would like to prepare myself and do everything I can for my mom!
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It is good that your step-dad could not change the trust since it was joint and your mother is incompetent. Unfortunately, that also means that she is not competent to change who is her POA.

Do you know if her doctor has said that she needs to be in a nursing home? One can't just place someone in one without a medical reason.
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My step dad was able to make a new trust because the psychiatrist came to their home to evaluate her. At that time my mom was not 100% incompetent but the psychiatrist or psychologist signed off saying that she is incompetent.

My question is...
1) Can their original joint trust still be effecticve and be considered to stand over the new trust that my step dad made alone?

2) Does my step dad have the legal right to do this and make a whole new trust with a different attorney and because he wanted only his 4 sons to inherit the house. My mom would not agree to this but my step dad is taking advantage of her dementia.

3) Is there a way that I can obtain a copy of their old joint trust and somehow prove that he is going against my moms wishes?

Right now she has no money or assets in her name because him and one of his son are trying to get her qualified for Medicaid. And they want to put her into a nursing home or care home. He won’t hire a CNA to help care for her at home because he doesn’t want to pay out of pocket.

He is 86 and cannot care for her the way she needs to be taken care of. He wants me to take care of her, which I do help out as much as I can. But I do need to work full time. So it’s very difficult.

My biggest fear is they will put her into a nursing home which accepts Medicaid as soon as they can. Even though she still knows she’s at home and still remembers us.
Or if my step dad passes before my mom, my step dad told me that his son will take care of everything and will have power of attorney for my mom.
This is a big concern!

4) what can I do to protect my mom and her rights?
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You said it is a joint trust? and the psychiatrist says your mom is incompetent? The would mean that the trust cannot be changed since your mom is not competent to agree to changes.
Do you know the attorney who did the joint trust? Can you ask for a copy from them?
If your mom is not being adequately cared for, then a nursing home may be best for her. Better than neglect in her home. At some point you would need to have a staff of caregivers to rotate to cover 24/7 care and this is impossibly expensive for most people.
Have you seen the power of attorney allegedly signed by your mom (when she was competent to sign it?) Is this just a matter of husband saying "this is what I want so I'll pretend my son has my wife's power of attorney." Outrageous what some of these "old fashioned" men think they can do!
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