Elder Law specialists; helping a friend in MI challenged with depression, alcoholism, limited income, and not technically savvy.
Friend is being kicked out of the family home that she has lived in for over a decade taking care of her elderly, aging parents. Now being forced to move out by older sisters
So, are both parents gone? If so any POA in place is now voided. If there is a Will then there's an Executor and they now take over. The Will be be given to Probate who will file it and it will become public. Your friend can then ask for a copy but the Executor is suppose to provide it to each beneficiary.
There is no way prior to Probate to know if there is a Will. For my parents and me we keep/kept it where it is easily found. It also could be in a safety deposit box. With a POA you need to take the persons word they were assigned or find the lawyer who drew the POAs up to tell u who the parents assigned. Same with a Will, find the lawyer who may have drawn it up. Guardianship should be on file with the County clerk. As said, a Judge needs to rule on that and the guardian reports to the state.
Why are the sisters trying to remove your friend? Do they need to sell the house to pay for the parents care? Is your friend really capable of caring for her parents and now its just a matter of her sponging off of them and sister are tired of an alcoholic sister who will do nothing for herself. Your friend could refuse to leave. After 10 years it is her residence of record. If parents are incompetent then POAs are in effect and as such the POA can make decisions in the best interest of the parents. So, they can try and evict her which means a hearing. Your friend could wait for that hearing and see what the judge says. She will probably be given 30 days to vacate. It takes a while to even get evicted so it will give her time to find another place. Her sisters cannot just "kick her out". There is a process. Maybe friend should call her County Adult Protection services and tell them she is vulnerable because she has given up the ability to work to care for her parents and now sisters want her out.
Its going to be hard to help this friend from a distance. She needs someone near her to help her with the legal aspects of this. She may need Social Services to help her get housing. Maybe apply for Medicaid for health. Maybe training to find a job. Help in sobering up. In the end, its all up to her. Someone can give her a hands up but she has to do the work.
The will and whomever the parents put in charge of being executor of the will is the only thing that now matters.
I don't know what you mean by find out about will. Wills have to go through probate. They become public documents thereby. All people who figure in a will as "beneficiaries " must be notified to that effect within a certain time frame (check in your own area). Does the person who wants to know this information know what Lawyer originally did this will? The original will be in that person's office. A call will insure that the family understands that there IS a will and that the executor of the will is notified of the will.
Sometimes you see things where people destroy a will, claim that there was not a will at all. It is difficult.
Hopefully your friend received compensation for this care. If your friend wasn't included in the making of a will, in insuring she was protected upon the death of the parents , then there isn't a thing to be done about that NOW when the elders are dead. Now things will proceed according to the will. Often that is equal division of the assets and the executor left with the onerous process of gathering all assets, paying back medicaid if they supported the elders in their last years and etc. All real property is usually sold and the assets divided.
What I am saying is that if the parents didn't provide for this caregiver for when they were gone, it's too late now. If I understand you correctly you say that there is depression and alcoholism involved in this friend's life and he or she cannot easily negotiate the problems but has an attorney. That attorney will advise. This is a sad added complication for your friend. I am sorry.
If I have this wrong and the parents are LIVING then the WILL doesn't matter but the guardianship and POA DOES. The sibling designated as guardian will likely sell all assets, and yes, the sibling will now have to move. Again, hopefully he or she was compensated for work; otherwise, too late now. And the assets will be sold to support the long term care in assisted living and or memory care. The sibling, if an alcoholic will be in no condition to continue that care. And again, I am sorry. Situations like this almost always end in homelessness for the sibling who moved in "to care for" elders. They have no job, no job history, and no savings due to poor/or no pay.
I am very sorry for the situation.