My mother passed away with out a will. We live in Texas. She didn't have much just her home which is paid for. There are 4 of us. My oldest sister lived/lives with her in the house. My mom was in and out of the hospital a lot and I am sure there are tons of medical bills. My question is what happens to the house if her assets don't cover all of the medical bills? Does my sister and her family have to leave the home? I am so worried because my other sister wants to sell the house and divide equally between all of us but that still leaves my oldest sister and her family out of a home. On top of the grieving from losing my mother I am stressed out that my family will be broken apart because of this!
I am sorry for the loss of your mother. I know it is difficult, and you certainly do not need the grief your brother is causing you. I am glad you are fighting for your rights. Do you have a life estate?
I think you are wonderful for taking care of your mother for twenty years. She was very fortunate to have such a caring daughter.I hope and pray things work out for you.
Being she never Made a Will, Her accounts(If any)Will go into a long PROBATE, Will freeze this so Money, Honey, Until after everything is Said Done in the Courts and Then, What is Left will be Divided Between you and the Siblings. It is THEN you Can Sell the House.
https://fordbergner.com/dying-without-a-will-in-texas-what-happens/
Looks like assets, however meager, will be divvied up via Texas Probate Code. BTW: the probate process can take a few months to settle everything.
Best to you.
Put a package together that shows how long she has provided care, a notarized letter from all siblings that are willing to let her have the house, perhaps she can stay as long as she continues to maintain it and at the point she sells then you guys get your share or your heirs, a lien on the property is fairly easy to accomplish with the proper court paperwork. Also, if she has been paying anything towards the house that should also be disclosed.
The judge can approve the plan as long as everything is within the law. Of course moms bills have to be paid, so that information should be included, listed by creditors, amounts due and how it will be paid.
If you guys can do that you will probably get what you desire for your sister.
Kudos to you for caring about your mom's caregivers, who happen to be your sister and her family. So many siblings don't appreciate what caregiving really entails and they are not nice to the caregiving sibling once the parent has passed. 👍
Someone needs to go to ur County probate now. It can be u. (POA stops at time of death) Since there is no Will, you will be made Administrator. There are some small fees involved. You will get a Short Certificate allowing you to deal with everyone concerning Moms affairs. This will give u the ability to deal with bills owed, the bank, etc. Once I got that, I would go to her bank and ask for a printout of any accounts she has. This will show u checking accts, savings, CDs, IRAs.
I have not closed out Probate yet. I am making settlement on Moms house next week. I do have a lawyer but only because my brother inherited the house and didn't want it. Papers had to be drawn up to put the house back into the estate. He will now follow thru on Probate. Not sure if I would have needed him otherwise. My Mom had no bills when she passed. Owed no one. All she had was the house. So I see no problem with probate. I don't see u needing an elder lawyer if ur Moms estate is small. Any experienced lawyer can do probate. You can get the ball rolling on ur end. If u end up hitting obstacles (like one sister contesting what will be done with the house), then get a lawyer. You may be able to use any money Mom has for his services.
If u don't want this headache, then tell the sibling that will likely take charge what needs to be done. I would also tell the one living in the house to be proactive. As Moms Caregiver she may have some rights. She may want to consult with a lawyer on what those rights are.
Be sure to find out if bank accounts have your sister (or someone else) as a co-signer or co-owner. Sometimes caretakers are co-owners to accounts, and these accounts do not go through probate. They are now the property of the surviving co-owner.
IRAs, insurance policies, etc. that have named beneficiaries (not estate) also do not go though probate.
My father passed away 6 months ago, and I have recent SC probate experience. It varies by state. Since the person scheduled after me had cancelled their appointment, I had a probate judge all to myself for several hours. All my questions were answered, and the judge explained everything I needed to know to settle my father's estate except the trust issues. Fortunately, my father had a current will done in SC. The big problem is dealing with a trust with his business property that was done decades ago in another state.
I told my 94-year old mother she cannot die for a few years, because there is too much paper work to do when someone dies.
As others had mentioned, if there is no Will or a Trust and there are assets involved [such as the house], then you need to go to Probate Court. Depending on your State laws would be how Judge decided the estate is divided...... after all of Mom's bills are paid.
It isn't unusual for Probate to take months or up to a year to be finished, it depends on the workload of the Probate division.
In the mean time, your Mom's estate or someone in the family will need to keep up the payments on the house such as real estate taxes, homeowner's insurance, utilities, repairs and maintenance.
Talk with an Elder Law Attorney to see what is the best route to take.
My husband and I are now in our early 60’s. We have a Will, but are working toward meeting with a financial advisor and then meeting with an Elder Care Attorney to get our Will updated and begin the process of establishing Trusts in our names. We’ve heard and felt the struggle with loved ones who didn’t plan for their future or for the event of their death. So on behalf of our children (3), we want to gift them with less stress and hassle at the time (and after) our deaths. We will also prearrange our funeral and pay what expenses we can, as this was a huge help to me personally when both my mom and dad died.
I think the first thing you need to do is get Moms bills together. Besides getting an invoice for services you will get a statement from Medicare showing what they covered and one from her suppliment. You may be surprised that Mom doesn't owe as much as u think. Did she have a Life insurance policy? Did she retire from her job with years of service. She could have a policy with them. Check her bank for any CDs or IRAs.
If everything works out that she has enough assets to pay bills, then u go on with the house. Did sister living there pay the upkeep, pay taxes, utilities ect. If not, then she was Moms Caregiver. Did the other siblings help? In a perfect family I would allow the sister to stay in the home as long as she paid bills and keep. Maybe pay rent to the rest. Or, she buys the rest of u out. Lets say the house is worth 200k, she pays the other 3 50k ea. But if Moms bills outweigh her assets, then the house may have to be sold, bills paid and whats left split between the 4 of u.
Do you know that Est. $150,000 in a skilled nursing home yearly just to take care of a love one so if you can take that figure times amount the time of years . She took care of her mother and living in that household upkeep utilities hospitals doctors appointments outings etc. etc. that over exceeds the year if that was me I will give her the house and write myself out of it family members really don’t want the house they didn’t help keep the up keep Of property / taxes . Family just $150,000 in a skilled nursing home yearly just to take care of a love one so if you can take that figure times the time of years that family took care of mother and living in that household upkeep utilities hospitals doctors appointments outings etc. etc. that over exceeds the year if that was me I will give her the house and write myself out of it family members really don’t want the house they didn’t help upkeep the house . Yes they just want funds and expect the party that’s living in the house to get the house sold and then divided between them. But if the sister living in the house if that’s her choice then my mouth is close.
It is only fair if they have been caregiving for mom that they have the option to buy you all out. They don't deserve the house free because of it, they had the benefit of not paying rent, not that that begins to cover the care provided, but they should have some consideration from the siblings that were saved the worries of mom because she lived there and cared for mom.
I am sorry for your loss. It is difficult to look at these situations when the loss is so fresh. Take time and encourage your siblings to figure out how everyone can get what they want. Your sister may have to apply for a mortgage and that can take some time. Hopefully everyone can wait.
I would make sure that the medical bills have been billed properly and what Medicare has paid before paying anything, there are annual maximum out of pocket expenses. Did she have any other insurance? It is not uncommon for bills to get sent out before Medicare has processed them, it is important to make sure that whole process is done before paying any bill.
My dad did this to his sister and her children scraped the money together to buy him out. They still resent him for his attitude and his demands that it happen quickly.
Hugs! It is a difficult situation.
" (b) The person's estate descends and passes to the person's children and the children's descendants."
I very much sympathise with your anxiety about what now happens to your sister; but the fact is, unless your resident sister can establish some other right to the property, that the house now belongs equally to all four of you. If your sister doesn't want to leave it, and there isn't enough money in the form of other assets to satisfy creditors and the rights of the other three of you, then she is going to have to buy you out. She will need to find the cash equivalent of three fourths of the value of the house. Or even, since you mention medical debts, possibly more than that.
You can Google "probate court for [your bit of Texas]", type "intestacy" into its search function, and get the information about the process there.
How to head off family ructions: emphasise that nothing has to be done in a *hurry* - best anyway, because nothing is going to happen in a hurry whether one or more of you wants it to or not. The four of you have only just lost your mother. Your resident sister, especially, is going to have a lot to recover from. See if you can get everyone to agree to full fact-finding *before* there can be any discussion of what to do with what remains of the estate - I hope that will give you some breathing space.
To be honest, though, unless she's got an awful lot of money or has a good enough income to take out a mortgage, your resident sister would do best to expect to move house. Just, it doesn't have to be now this minute.
Are you anticipating any particular flashpoints about this?