Is Deed of Trust from Ohio valid in Texas?
In October my siblings and I were able to convince my father to go south to stay with my little Brother in Texas since northern Ohio has deep snow winters. Medical issues are keeping him there longer but he still plans on heading home when his Doctor gives him the go ahead. We kids, on the other hand, don't feel he can live alone any longer (he's 84) and are slowly trying to bring him around to that fact. My brother and sister in law are wonderful with him, and want him to live with them, so there's no problem there.
My concern is his Trust, seeing as how I'm the trustee. If he does decide to stay in Texas then it will be my job to go to Ohio and deal with liquidating his assets (home and belongings). Once this is done, he'll have no residence in Ohio so will not be a resident. Will his trust still be valid in Texas or will he need a new Trust written up. This one cost him 1200.00 and I think it will be hard to convince him the need to spend that amount again...
Does anyone know? Thanks for any thoughts on the issue...
I'm going to suggest going to an elder law attorney in your area of TX. This site has a drop down list of elder law attorney, so you can look there for names. I would take all the documents for dad along with a history on him with DOB,his marriages and the details on that and also all the DOB on his kids. If he was divorced then a copy of the decree, or if he did probate on a deceased wife, etc. All this so Dad can get a new DPOA, MPOA and also a "Guardian in case of Incapacity" done (my mom's attorney in TX suggested this and really you want to add it to the list); do a codicil to his will (yeah I know there is a trust but just in case something falls outside of the trust years from now) and then whatever is needed for the trust or for dissolving the old one and doing a new one.
But I would ask the TX legal about their co-ordinating the details with Ohio. When the house sells the proceeds goes to TX legal and this $ pays for all the costs for the new TX legal. So Dad is not out of pocket for new legal - maybe this approach will be an easier way to pay for what is needed?
You know it is my firm belief that if they live long enough, they will run out of money and the caregivers (like your bro & SIL) will run out of ability to provide the level of care needed for DAD and Dad will need to go to a NH and eventually apply for Medicaid.(Unless you are truly generationally wealthy.) Speak frankly with the elder attorney regarding how to best structure Dad's assets & the proceeds from the property sale for how TX runs it's Medicaid program & does probate. Good luck and keep a sense of humor going in all this.
Dustie
You know if there is a banking group with a presence in OH and then also in TX, think about Dad's opening an account there now and get any income direct deposited into the new account now. Dad goes ahead and closes out any OH only bank accounts. You want to make sure the account is POD - pay on death. The account would be in Dad's name & SS # but with you as a signature & you want something with on-line everything so you & dad and another family can monitor. I would imagine it would be POD to you since you are the point person for finances for him and are his executor in his will. Personally I would go with a smaller regional bank rather than a Chase or BoA as they tend to go overboard in caution in dealing with elders POA situations (and not in your favor) but you may not have a real choice for banks in both states. You want to take the current Ohio DPOA now and have it filed with the account so that there is no future issue from OH on this. Then when he officially moves to TX you have the new & OK for TX DPOA done too - I'd just hold onto this one unless the bank demands it.
I've been doing some reading up on TX law and it seems as if they will be willing to honor the Ohio trust if anything happens to dad as long as it was done by a licensed attorney and there's no one contesting anything, which there shouldn't be.