My mom and step-dad had a family Trust in place before he died. Their Trust listed my brother, sister, and myself as co-trustees. When i moved in with my mom to help her out, she told me my sister wanted POA. My mom told me she wasn't comfortable doing that. The very next day my sister showed up. When asked, she told me she was taking my mom to get POA notarized. I told her no mom's not comfortable doing that. She said my mom doesn't have a choice, she was there now and she's going to get it notarized. Eventually my brother had her served with revocation of POA. She then showed up with my brother and I added to the POA. Is that even legal? My sister now has control over all my moms assets, her bank accounts, her properties, etc. She has all my moms mail being sent to her address. Has changed my moms Trust and added herself as Trustee. She is cashing my mom's IRA checks for the past 2-3 yrs, and when I ask her where they are being deposited she tells me it's none of my business. When I checked my mom's accounts, there are no IRA deposits since the checks have been mailed to my sister. This is how I found out that my sister had all my moms bigger accounts transferred to a different bank where my sister opened accounts. She apparently took my mom to the bank to open the new accounts, which I'm sure is illegal since my mom has dementia and can't make those kind of decisions. That where i discovered she had made one recent IRA deposit. She probably thought I'd let it go once I saw a deposit made. When i did a search on a bldg my mom owns, it's said, owners address, and it shows my sister's address. When i clicked on her address of course it shows my sister's name. Is it just me, or is that saying it is now in my sister's name and she owns it? There is an endless list of red flags everywhere. Her and my brother both have stolen thousands of dollars out of my moms house. Had a locksmith come and break open two drawer safes in my mom's dresser. Stolen everything out of my mom's floor safe, then locked it and refuses to give me the combo. There is so much more. Like all the spending my sister is doing.- Like full kitchen remodel and all new appliances.-Added several more solar panels to the already existing ones that were there when her and her husband bought the 5 bdrm house, which my mom helped pay for. -Plus the backs up batteris she bought.-The house she just bought her husband so he could move out! Apparently she kicked him out.-Refurnshed her whole house with everything. Shes never had money like that to spend. She tells everybody she works, but i know she only works a few hrs week. I can't afford a lawyer, they want a $1500. retainer up front and charge $500. an hr. Any advise on how to stop her? I think she's in Breach of Trust and Breach of Judicial Duties.
Your sister and bro wouldn't have the legal power to do most of the things you speak of. Most of what you say here isn't making much sense.
1. A POA that is simply notarized means nothing. A notary does nothing but attest to g a signature of a signee. There is no attorney and no attorney exam of competency to make or change a Trust or will. That's done by an attorney.
2. I think you are not even clear on what the POA is and what the TRUST is, because a Trustee acts for the Trust and a POA for things not in the trust. And these things are VERY difficult to change. Not so easy as unlocking a floor safe.
You say you can't afford an attorney. Your mother is in the care of these children who are providing for her. Yet you claim to know many details you could not.
I think you can't really know what's happening here, and your story has been going now over 3 years. This sounds a lot like our usual "siblings at war" stories.
I advise you to call APS with your story, and if APS sees no reason here to open a case, that you should move on with your life and stop worrying about these people or how they are decorating their homes or how many hours they are working. Simply move on with your own life. No Forum on earth could/would/should hazard a guess as to what is happening here in all this confusion. Call APS and good luck.
I will only add that it's very difficult in our country to change around Trusts and Wills and to get elders money from banks. Watch the Forum and you will see that people are unable to handle banking even with well written POAs/Trusts. Therefore I question a whole lot of your accusations here.
Only an attorney can stop her, if what you write is accurate. And, you say you can't afford an attorney, so you are at a dead end.
Changing the trust when your mom has dementia is another sign of something shady going on especially if your mom didn’t want changes & was coerced into doing it.
It seems like she has everything set up so that she is to get everything when your mom passes. For those of you who don’t think an attorney would risk their license to do it they will!
My sibling had my mom’s trust amended by a lawyer who didn’t know her & had her trust changed so he was the only beneficiary instead of spit 2 ways like my mom originally had set up. The attorney did not speak to my mom privately and my sibling told them what my mom wanted done & sat with her throughout the appointment. It should have raised suspicions when one beneficiary was asking for the trust to be changed removing all other beneficiaries.
Some siblings are just greedy, controlling & spiteful. You need to get an attorney specializing in trust & estate litigation.
Quite frankly, there are no longer honorable professionals, it is a dog eat dog world and anyone that ignores that fact, well...
the 2 CNAS reported the abuse & APS contacted my sibling who had POA. The live in caregiver was someone he met on a dating website and no investigation was done other than speaking to my sibling on the phone since it was during Covid.
He denied my mom was being abused but he lived miles away & didn’t see her often so he had no clue. My mom had severe dementia at that time so she had trouble remembering & speaking.
APS here in RI does absolutely nothing to protect the elders.
They found evidence from the 2 CNAS who reported it & elderly affairs put it in their report. The outcome was that the live in caregiver could not be there when the CNAS were there.
So the abusive caregiver was fine to stay there when no one was around to witness the abuse……not an outcome you’d expect from an agency that’s there to protect seniors