I cared for my mom for 10 years she passed away on 9/9/2017. She had a fall in rehab and I hired a lawyer and started a lawsuit for them letting her fall well she passed away as I stated above so now, it's a wrongful death suit. The rehab center got sworn and recorded Statement from my sisters saying they didn't want any money from a lawsuit they just wanted to stop me from getting any money and now that the suit has been filed in court and for how much they now want to be part of the suit to get a child's part. Can they do that and I was my mom's Medical Power of Attorney and I was her dual power for financial matters.
At first your sisters didn't want any part of the suit and now they do. Is that correct?
Is this a contingency case? Will the lawyer only get paid if you do? Or are you paying by the hour? What does the lawyer think about including your sisters?
Typically, if a suit is filed with specific allegations, such as malpractice (because of the fall), and events occur which dictate another charge can be added, the pleadings would be amended to add that second charge of wrongful death. Jeanne makes a good point about it now being a wrongful death suit. In our circuit courts, suits have codes assigned to them; I don't know whether or not an amended complaint can be recoded or if just another code category is added.
That's just FYI.
Secondly though, if the sisters want to join the suit, they would do so as party plaintiffs, along with you. I believe they have to petition, with their own attorney, to join the suit as such party plaintiffs. Depending on the court rules, there probably would have to be a hearing, unless your attorney agrees to the motion and an order is entered w/o a hearing.
3. If there is a hearing, you can tell your lawyer you object to their being joined as plaintiffs. Then that issue becomes contested and a hearing would have to be held and the judge would decide whether they can joint the suit.
Does this make sense? What I want to say, is that they can't just decide to join the suit; it's based on legal action.
4. Now this is complicated by the alleged statement to the rehab facility that they don't want any compensation. The rehab facility is presumably the defendant, and now has a statement indicating the sisters aren't interested in pursuing monetary compensation.
What then is their basis for joining the suit? The court would consider that as well, and would also consider the statement given to the defendant rehab facility. That might mitigate against their being allowed to become party plaintiffs.
5. The issue of who was proxy under any POA is now irrelevant because your mother is deceased, and the action and contest are in litigation.
So, your sisters can't just decide to join a lawsuit already in process.
If this doesn't make sense, post back and I'll try to explain further.