Posted on 01/07/2007 8:10:18 AM PST by proudofthesouth
I've discovered a "missing link" in Alabama's state law regarding estates. It turns out that step families or adults who live together in a home that only one of the adults own have no estate rights should one of the adults die.
I spoke to the my local state legislative office last Fall (prior to the elections) and they were surprised that this loophole exists.
Here is the body of the letter that I emailed to them explaining my particular situation:
My elderly mother lives in my late Stepfather’s house. (It is a large 3 bedroom, 2 bath home and everything in it except for a couple pieces of furniture belongs to my Mother.)
It was stated in my late Stepfather’s will (he passed away several years ago) that she can live there until her death as long as she pays the taxes, insurance, upkeep, etc. and she is complying with the will.
I am the Executor of her estate. A few weeks ago I spoke to a local probate attorney regarding how much time I will have to remove her property from the house upon her death. The attorney informed me that under Alabama law I don’t have any rights regarding time and that my step siblings could in fact change the locks on the house immediately upon her death and keep everything in it! I asked about having an agreement drawn up between the step siblings and I and the attorney said that it wouldn’t be legally binding and wouldn’t hold up in court.
I would like to see a law passed to protect people in this situation. It would not only protect the relatives of step families but roommates, adults who live together and even relatives (brother, aunt, cousins, etc) who share the same home.
The law needs to specify a time period to remove belongings from the home as movers, storage facilities (or in my case an estate sale) can’t be immediately arranged.
I wasn’t aware that I didn’t have any rights until I decided to contact an attorney. When I informed my mother about my lack of rights, she even considered moving (i.e. purchasing a condo or home which would wipe out her savings) in order to protect her estate and my inheritance. She has lived in and increased the value of this house for over 25 years. She is almost 80 years old and should not have to worry about someone legally stealing her estate.
This is a bill that I will actively work hard to see passed. Please let me know what I can do to help accomplish this.
Don't think this is just Alabama. It happened to my friend in California. Why do you assume your step-siblings would be so mean? Other than that, you're screwed, my friend. However, you should thank God that your Mom has a place to stay until she passes.
Thank you, I was having a hard time writing the same thing and you said it better.
Enjoy your mom, stop focusing on her stuff. You are doing now what you fear the stepsister will do.
Nothing has happened fast in any estate I've ever seen. As executor, you set the pace and the procedure for when the estate gets distributed. Relax.
The house was the stepfather's and upon your mother's death, his family should inherit.
The attorney says that anything within the house goes with it, so move it all out! Have the sale now or put it all in storage. Buy or rent cheap throwaway furniture for your mother's use. Don't leave anything in there that the vultures can't have when the time comes.
I posted to this thread because my wife is in almost exactly the opposite situation. Her mother and father shared their lives for over 50 years before she died three years ago. I can only imagine the loneliness he felt after she passed - such that IMHO it clouded his judgement about the woman he married only a few months ago. He's absolutely smitten with a woman no one else can stand. Communications with them aren't strained, they're nonexistent.
He's in his late 70's and in poor health. He made a will, but may have altered it since the wedding. It was only through efforts from all of his children, along with his lawyer, that he was convinced to draw up a prenuptial agreement. I fear that upon his death, the house my wife and her siblings grew up in, along with all of treasures her parents built up over a lifetime, all go to a gold digger and her worthless family.
Does that put a different complexion on things?
Your mom could move out and rent. She doesn't have to buy a condo or home. At her age, though, that really sucks. Sounds like a troubled family.
My stepbrother might, just MIGHT be reasonable. He and my Mom speak on the phone weekly even though his Dad died years ago. My stepsister on the other hand is a wacko who has hated my Mom from day one cause her Dad married her within months of becoming a widower.
Both are extremely wealthly in their own right and don't need the money that the house would bring them. To them its pocket change.
I guess it's a matter of perspective. Personally, I'd sooner lose it all than have my mother spend her remaining days on "cheap throwaway furniture". I'd forfeit the entire estate in order to ensure her comfort for the few years she has left.
Who's the vulture? Who took mom's stuff from mom?
She has considered moving out and renting but all her friends live within a few doors down from her. This has been her home for over 2 decades. She doesn't like to drive so moving away from her friends and neighborhood ISN'T an option.
"My advice is to get everything of value out of that house NOW, while you and your mother have complete legal access."
I agree
Exactly. And since it seems nothing has emotional value, even the OP is talking about it in terms of selling it all, it's really nickels and dimes for everyone. Even nice furniture and jewelry is used furniture and jewelry when it is stripped of it's emotional value as a momento. While estate sales can net a lot more than some might think,in the big scheme of things it's pocket change and not worth stressing out over.
Hey, that's pretty good advice Lancey. I thought you might have spent the night in a Holiday Inn Express.
No need to pass a law that effects the whole body politic. Even if locks are changed, any property may be claimed, traced, retrieved, etc. by court order. Go through rooms with video camera and have occupant (Mom) say on tape what is hers and what was Dad's, etc. Talk to step-kids now and see if something can be worked out with regard to who owns what, how much time to retrieve, etc.
What does that have to do with anything? Just seems to me this this only points to a class envy argument which nobody wins.
Why did your mother sign a pre-nup if she was not willing to live within the rules of it. This pre-nup did nothing but make second class citizens of you mom's family, and she knew and accepted that in a binding manner.
The argument that your mother "added" value to the house is also mute. Unfortunately that may be true on certain levels, but the argument that your mother held down values can also be made. Perhaps they would of remodeled the house and even further valued it can be made. The arguments that lost revenue due to reinvestment loses can be made. But, again those points are also mute since the owner (dead stepfather) contractually specifically that the house only be used to house your mom while she wanted to stay there. She could break the contract only one way, moving out now (or removing her items of value now before her death).
Signing contracts in this case prove that pre-nups are not always peace keepers that they seem at first glance. But also, the argument that perhaps this was the only way your stepfather could keep his house to pass down to his children can also be made.
Sin is why this life is so complex. In a perfect world, children would honor their parents, this family would be one instead of splintered, there would be no need for wills, no need for lawyers/courts, no need for pre-nups, and all love would be for each other and each other's wellbeing.
Yet naked we face the Lord as the day we were born.
I see an arbitrator in your future. You mom holds the keys now, she alone (in her old age where she should not have to deal with all this mess) can preserve the material items you want to inherit. IMHO...
I am not a lawyer, though I did once mediate a toy dispute between my kids (and I threw it away to cause less disputes in the future).
Sounds like he was brushing you off. New laws are not retroactive. A new law would never help you.
Wait a minute, your mother is alive and well? You're after her things?
I'm sorry, but the law may be protecting her from you.
Nuggets like this are why I love FR.
Why don't you come out and say it. You are worried about your inheritance. No one is kicking your mother out, her lifestyle will remain the same. I have seen this so many times where kids are looking after the estate instead of looking out for a single parents lifestyle while she is still on this earth.
There's one in every family. I had a family member die and one of her siblings had kept track of everything they gave for Christmas or a birthday over the years and then showed up with that list to get them all back! Who does that?
Yu are confused. I never said anything about a prenup. My Mom didn't sign a prenup. There was never any mention of it! Besides she had more money at the time of the marriage (and my Stepdad's death) than he did!
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