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We have a will set for my parents and I have POA of my Mom , my Dad has passed away and my Brother had POA over him which didn't make sense but this is how the Attorney setup the will . My question is my Dads last request before he died was to have him removed off the will because he never hardly came to the nursing home to visit him or check in on my Mom at home . But having his name removed has yet to happen due to time and money , but I was told that because I have POA of my Mom that I can do this and shouldn't cost a whole lot of money . We live in Florida and need some advise to take care of this before something happens to my Mom , because she's pushing 86 yrs of age and has also mentioned about wanting him removed off the will too , because the way it's currently written is once they are both gone we have to sell the house and split the money . But my Dads last wish was he wanted the house kept and not sold at all . I need some legal advise of what my next move should be and how to handle this sticky situation I'm currently dealing with right now . Thanks L.A.H. from Florida

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Your POA does not give you the authority to alter your mother's will.

If your mother is of sound mind, she can change her will. But you, as a beneficiary, need to stay right out of the whole process: the most you can do is arrange an appointment with her attorney for her, which you do NOT attend. If she needs assistance, for example if she's a bit deaf, or just wants her hand held, it must come from a disinterested person who is there purely to support your mother. If there is even a whiff of a suggestion that you influenced your mother to alter the terms of her will, your brother could challenge the new will and might well be successful in having it declared invalid.

But in any case think this through. Wouldn't your mother benefit more from a reconciliation with her son, than from acting in anger to disinherit him? Shouldn't you be doing your best to mend things between them?
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Whoever told you a Power of Attorney can change a will is just plain wrong - it is not allowed - not in any of the fifty United States. Your only recourse is for your mother to make a new will or amend the current will with a codicil. Codicils are generally used for small changes, however. Regardless- your mother needs to be deemed fully mentally competent to do either - making a new will or amending the old one. For you to attempt to skirt around the legal facts and requirements of this situation would be playing with fire.
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Only your Mom can have a Will changed.   Otherwise it would be too simple for grown children, who are POA's, changing Wills left and right and leaving most of the estate to themselves.

Your brother was POA for his Dad because that is what Dad wanted.   The Attorney doesn't choose the person.

Let's say your Mom does finally remove your brother's name from the Will.   Let's fast forward a couple of years and your brother has a change of heart and does a lot of caregiving for his Mom.   But, because your Mom now has memory issues, she is unable to change the Will back to include your brother.

As for selling the house, unless there is something in writing that the house remains in the family, the heirs can do whatever they wish with the house.  Unless Medicaid is involved.  Otherwise, if the house isn't a place where any of the heirs want to live, it will stand abandoned because it can't be sold.  You and your siblings would be paying real estate taxes, very high homeowner's insurance, paying for yard care, etc.

It is not unusual for people not to want to visit anyone in the hospital or a nursing home.  That person feels extremely uncomfortable being around people who are not well or have problems with mobility.   My sig other is that way.

I suggest that you and Mom visit with an Elder Law Attorney to have Mom's Power of Attorney, Living Will, and Will [or Trust] updated.   Let Mom do all the talking.
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Try to patch it up with your Mom and brother if you can. If you need the house, or if you will need more financial assistance from your Mom's estate, maybe you could talk it all out. Like someone else mentioned, there are no guarantees, the nursing home may end up with everything, I sure hope not, but if you can work out everything and agree that would be much better for you, your Mom, and you brother.
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Only the person making a Will can change it. The level of legal capacity required is less than that for making a POA or signing a nursing home or other contract. Whether the house will go to Medicaid depends on the circumstances and the state. Some states only collect from the probate estate and you can use a form of transfer on death deed to remove the home from the estate. Some states forego trying to collect from the house if an adult child moved in to care for the parent and did so for two years, postponing the need for Medicaid; if there is a minor child; if there is a disabled child; if the home is part of a family business (such as a farm); of if doing so would cause the family to need public assistance or yield less or cost more than a certain amount. See an elder lawyer who also does estate planning. www.naela.org.
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Your dad died with a will. Whomever is executor as per that will should get probate done to transfer assets as per that will. Most couples do it so that all goes to the other & usually its a simple filing in probate court with judges orders allowing dads name to be taken off property (so mom has it then placed in her name solely). If bro is named executor & wont open probate, then you as dpoa for mom (as beneficary) can ask to be named excutor through a probate atty. Then after this is done, mom can do a codicil to her old will changing the beneficiaries of her estate. If she wants to exclude bro, she can do that & it could be that FL law requires some sort of nominal to any children to be done for codicil to be valid. A good atty will know what's needed.

As DPOA, you cannot change your folks will. That would be a breach of your duty as dpoa. If you did, Bro could file for you to be removed as dpoa & for that will to be viewed as invalid and then it's onto litigation in probate.

About inheriting the house, that may or may not happen. Your mom could well need to go into a facility. She could live another decade. You may not be aboe to prvd the cargiving she needs. A lot could happen over time. What happens with house if she moves into a facility? Mom & you as her DPOA need to plan as to what happens if she needs AL or NH.
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Usually Dad leaves everything to mom. Then when mom dies, everything goes the children in equal amounts. BUT if Dad was on Medicaid for a nursing home, his estate pays all his nursing home bills.
If mom goes into a nursing home, the value of the house is totally eaten up. Nobody gets anything.
Quit worrying about who gets what. Take care of mom.
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