A POA Doing a Trust that benefits themselves is not allowed. That’s when a POA becomes a POS & expect other heirs to have it nullified
If she’s truly incompetent and really not able to possibly show-dog for an hr or two to meet 1-on-1 with atty to sign off on a will, Trust, etc. then it may be just best to leave things be at whatever ownership &/or paperwork that currently exists. Too too late to do a will or a Trust, sadly that ship has sailed. 🛳 🌅
Her granting you POA & your being a good, solid, consistent POA for years will show why you should be appointed by probate court to be named administrator for her estate which will considered to be one created as she died “intestate”. Intestate means died without a will.
Usually for intestate, her assets “escheat” to the state. Escheate, kinda means that state assumes nominal control or ownership over estates assets TILL a legitimate heir petitions court to be named as administrator for her estate as they present to the court lineal heirship standing. As the current POA, I’d really suggest that you be kinda ready to file for a lineal heirship and to be the named administrator for the estate. To me - I’ve been an Executor x3 - it is NOT a DIY to do a lineal as it has lots of steps to do correctly. There are probate attorneys who do nothing but lineal work. It’s very notices in the paper type of heavy. If your parent was married before and there’s heirs besides yourself, or kids from deceased husbands before your mom’s marriage that produced you and that hot mess was not cleared in probate decades ago, it’ll likely mean lots of notices placed. Ditto if she owns property in more than 1 city or county. A good lineal heirship atty has on-line accounts with lots of courthouses and newspapers of record to get notices placed into and with 30/60/90 day alerts for subsequent notices to be done. May not necessarily be lots of in court time but more online filing time, so less fees. All these need to be shown to be filed for the judge to allow for her assets (like her home) to be distributed to whomever are her lineal heir(s). Hopefully it’s just you.
For probate, There’s different type of administrations. Usually for lineal it’s a dependent administration which means all actions are court supervised and judge has to sign off on actions prior to things being done & you may need to put up a bond. Sometimes if you have an atty, the bond will be waived as atty as in good standing with court. The other type is an independent adminstration which allows one to you do actions on your own and file either before or after stuff is done to the probate docket for the estate. My experience is usually independent administration is for those with valid will that names you as the Executor is entered to court & no bond & again there’s an atty of record who is in the probate court online system for filing. Otherwise it’s gonna be a dependent administration.
You can start now to pull together documents on mom’s past and then her current financial standing on both what she owns (assets) and what her debts are currently and what they are likely to be at end of each month in the near future. Having this helps atty figure out what’s likely for assets vs claims on her estate.
So were there old prior marriages for either your mom or your dad? Any kids from those? Did those old spouses die & was their estate cleared thru probate? Do you have siblings and are you all kumbaya or hate each other? For real property, like a home or land, is it in mom’s name alone? Will mom die with $ to pay the costs of home or land for like 1-2 years? Or will mom die with a bank account POD to you or a life insurance policy 100% beneficiary to you that you can use to pay the property costs for 1-2 years? OR you can afford all mom’s property & Estate costs? If not, what could property be sold for realistically and what are DOM (days on market) for Realtor listing averaging for her neighborhood?
You will have to ask an attorney because it depends on your state laws. Some states require the POA document to specifically state that the agent can set up a trust.
Katiebug, make an appointment with an Elder Law attorney to see what can be done since your Mom is no longer able to understand or sign legal documents.
It depends on the net worth of the assets that your Mom owns. A Revocable Trust includes the Trust itself.... the Last Will & Testament.... Power of Attorney.... Advance Medical Directive.... funeral instructions, etc. Such a Trust can cost around $3k to $5k depending on everything involved, which includes the time of the Attorney, and paralegals.
You have to have Elder Attorney set up something called “Life Estate” & mom sells house to you for $1.00 but you maintain all tax benefits if you sell it. Also property tax bills & utility bills stay in her name. So she can live in home as long as it’s safe for her. So you are on deed...Hugs 🤗
This isn’t an option because her mother is on Medicaid. Her mom can’t sell the house for anything other than market value. Her mom is no longer living in the home either.
CG as power of attorney she is responsible to act in her mother's interests not her own. If mom is on Medicaid, property ownership is not easily transferred with pending lien which gets applied in probate and sounds like what poster is trying to avoid. An atty as Ig suggests might have options but not likely at this point.
If she’s truly incompetent and really not able to possibly show-dog for an hr or two to meet 1-on-1 with atty to sign off on a will, Trust, etc. then it may be just best to leave things be at whatever ownership &/or paperwork that currently exists. Too too late to do a will or a Trust, sadly that ship has sailed. 🛳 🌅
Her granting you POA & your being a good, solid, consistent POA for years will show why you should be appointed by probate court to be named administrator for her estate which will considered to be one created as she died “intestate”. Intestate means died without a will.
Usually for intestate, her assets “escheat” to the state.
Escheate, kinda means that state assumes nominal control or ownership over estates assets TILL a legitimate heir petitions court to be named as administrator for her estate as they present to the court lineal heirship standing.
As the current POA, I’d really suggest that you be kinda ready to file for a lineal heirship and to be the named administrator for the estate. To me - I’ve been an Executor x3 - it is NOT a DIY to do a lineal as it has lots of steps to do correctly. There are probate attorneys who do nothing but lineal work. It’s very notices in the paper type of heavy. If your parent was married before and there’s heirs besides yourself, or kids from deceased husbands before your mom’s marriage that produced you and that hot mess was not cleared in probate decades ago, it’ll likely mean lots of notices placed. Ditto if she owns property in more than 1 city or county. A good lineal heirship atty has on-line accounts with lots of courthouses and newspapers of record to get notices placed into and with 30/60/90 day alerts for subsequent notices to be done. May not necessarily be lots of in court time but more online filing time, so less fees. All these need to be shown to be filed for the judge to allow for her assets (like her home) to be distributed to whomever are her lineal heir(s). Hopefully it’s just you.
For probate, There’s different type of administrations. Usually for lineal it’s a dependent administration which means all actions are court supervised and judge has to sign off on actions prior to things being done & you may need to put up a bond. Sometimes if you have an atty, the bond will be waived as atty as in good standing with court. The other type is an independent adminstration which allows one to you do actions on your own and file either before or after stuff is done to the probate docket for the estate. My experience is usually independent administration is for those with valid will that names you as the Executor is entered to court & no bond & again there’s an atty of record who is in the probate court online system for filing. Otherwise it’s gonna be a dependent administration.
You can start now to pull together documents on mom’s past and then her current financial standing on both what she owns (assets) and what her debts are currently and what they are likely to be at end of each month in the near future. Having this helps atty figure out what’s likely for assets vs claims on her estate.
So were there old prior marriages for either your mom or your dad?
Any kids from those?
Did those old spouses die & was their estate cleared thru probate?
Do you have siblings and are you all kumbaya or hate each other?
For real property, like a home or land, is it in mom’s name alone?
Will mom die with $ to pay the costs of home or land for like 1-2 years?
Or
will mom die with a bank account POD to you or a life insurance policy 100% beneficiary to you that you can use to pay the property costs for 1-2 years?
OR
you can afford all mom’s property & Estate costs?
If not, what could property be sold for realistically and what are DOM (days on market) for Realtor listing averaging for her neighborhood?
Was she on medicaid?
It depends on the net worth of the assets that your Mom owns. A Revocable Trust includes the Trust itself.... the Last Will & Testament.... Power of Attorney.... Advance Medical Directive.... funeral instructions, etc. Such a Trust can cost around $3k to $5k depending on everything involved, which includes the time of the Attorney, and paralegals.