Hello, my aunt has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s (limited capacity) and is currently in a nursing home to recover for a recent illness. My sister and I have recently gained DPOA (financial and health). At tis time we discovered from our attorney that my aunt’s house is in a trust with our cousin named as the trustee. Therefore we with DPOA cannot touch the house because it is protected. We called our cousin and informed her that with our aunt's declining health that she'll need to sell her home soon to pay for health care aids or assisted living in the near future. Our cousin refuses to transfer trustee power to us or to sell the house to provide funds for our aunt. She claims she wants to follow our aunt's wishes of giving all her money to the poor. (BS) Is there anything we can do? Can we get the court involved to take over her assets (if so can we have the court control all assets – I don’t want to start a family feud – I don’t want any money or any inheritance, just protect my aunt from being kicked out on the street). Please help us. Thank you.
Does she have other assets? Is she unable to return to her home when she is done convalesing? What is the value of her home? How long (in months) would that pay for assisted living? Is AL the level of care she needs, or will she need a memory care unit, or a nursing home?
One possibility is to leave the cousin deal with the house, and apply for Medicaid for your aunt.
If the lawyer who helped with the DPOAs is not a specialist in elder law, you might benefit from consulting such a specialist to determine what your options are.