My mom owned the condo till my brother and I bought it many years ago. Mom is now in a nursing home. I am told need to go to probate because of a will she wrote leaving them to the brother. Can we move them out to sell the condo or do the need to stay to be appraised?
Hard to sell condo with her furnishings still there.
If your brother and you need to sell this home which has for many years belonged to you, your mother's furnishings should be moved to storage, and whomever is her POA/Guardian/Conservator should be notified of where said belongings are. I say this with the assumptions that your Mom is no longer competent enough for you to discuss the disposal of her belongings with her. You should make a careful inventory and give it to whomever is currently acting for your mother in her behalf.
The will doesn’t take affect until your mother is deceased.
The executor handles property and finances after her passing. Property that is mentioned in the will may not be part of her estate if it was disposed of prior to her death.
As a matter of practicality, most furnishings aren’t that valuable. If these fall into that category, I would suggest giving the brother for whom they were intended a time limit, in which he can retrieve them. Or if the relationships are strained, investigate removal to a storage facility where he can pick them up or pay to keep them.
The POA will need to determine if any of the furnishings are valuable enough to sell to contribute to her care.
An attorney can assist you with considering your options and sending appropriate notice.
Edited to add:
Or, if you want to be contentious, notify the POA that her abandoned property needs to be removed or forfeited by an appropriate date.
Whatever info you're getting about this or think you got about this or other people are talking about concerning the matter ARE ALMOST CERTAINLY WRONG.
Her will was written at the same time as her documents assigning POA.
Both her will and her POA documents were notarized.
We worked with my LO’s lawyer who was a family and elder care specialist, with an excellent reputation.
I’m not by any means contradicting you, but that was how it went down in our situation.
Er, with respect, his leaving you nothing is the only factor you mention which would *not* make the will fraudulent. But never mind because absolutely everything else does.
If you and brother have agreed to sell the condo then you are free to remove and store or sell the furniture. Currently it is your mother's property, and the DPOA should decide what to do with it, crediting any proceeds from any sale to your mother's account. As your mother is alive, the DPOA is not free to appropriate the furniture for himself even if he can prove the will ten times over.
I highly doubt that her brother wrote and witnessed a will by himself, her other posts make it seem like he’s the responsible sibling taking care of things while she’s the stereotypical out of state sibling butting in and making everyone’s life more difficult.
All due respect - when did this begin to occur? In your post back in October 2019, your relationship with your brother seemed fairly amicable, it was your mother that was contentious and she had stopped speaking to you. What happened to blow everything up? You have accused him of being deceitful and his wife of being a thief - but you and your brother bought the condo together?
I thought most wills required two witnesses to be considered legal - but we signed ours a long time ago - maybe things have changed. And I also thought that a beneficiary could not be a witness. But again...it's been a while. And I don't think they can even be the spouse of the beneficiary. But I could be wrong. I'm not a lawyer and like I said, it's been a long time since we signed our wills.
If your mother, of sound mind, had her will redrawn up legally though, and left him everything - unfortunately - the will is not fraudulent just based on the fact that nothing was left to you. Its unfair and wrong if everything was even. And you were both in good standing with your mother and were both participating in her life and neither of you were estranged from HER. But its not fraudulent.
Speaking of legalities - I agree, you need to find a good elder law attorney. You have a lot of moving parts here that could be problematic. Getting someone who can advise you legally on all of this is your best option.
So I would tell the POA the furniture needs to be moved because the condo is being sold. Since he gets her belongings at time of her passing, what does he want to do. If she has money, she should be paying for the storage. If not, and he wants to keep the furniture then he has to store it. You should not be held responsible for it.
If Mom is on Medicaid, I don't think they care about furnishings unless they are high priced antiques and paintings. Things like silver, crystal and china are not in demand anymore so won't get much for them. The newer generation is not into them. In my State u don't need to probate under 20k. If Moms items are worth less than your States probate limit, I would just tell brother to come get what he wants and get rid of the rest.