Mom and dad both changed citizenship to Florida residence. Trust was Irrevocable on dads death and mom has written a new will that conflicts with the Trust as to what happens. The Will was just written in 2015 in Florida. Can my mothers 2015 will take precedence to the Trust that my dad and mom setup that has been in existence with my dads wants and family desires since the 1990's? The new Will my mom created doesn't agree with the Original Irrevocable Living Trust signed agreement by both of them before the new Will was executed. She visited me and said my older brother who hasn't worked an honest day in his life has gotten online and found a way to get into her checking account. I had lunch with her and took her to the nearest Chase branch and we got the electronic feature disabled. Mom has a hard time even logging into a computer let alone finding a new pin for her checking account at Chase. She's in trouble. Please help, this is exhausting !!!!
Trust was drafter, reviewed by mom and dad, acknowledged, signed and notarized by both mom and dad and the Trust drafting Attorney in Indiana. Mom now and has established citizenship in Florida but still has ownership in a place in Indiana. My questions that stir my head daily are: 1. Which state now prevails over the Trust because of her citizenship, Florida or Indiana? 2. Can I go to the police/FBI and have a case opened? 3. Should I go to court to try to get Conservatorship or Guardianship over my mom to protect her from my brother stealing and manipulating money? (If so what state do I find an attorney, Indiana or Florida?). Wow, I'm a professional worked all my life since I was 13 and have been middle income successful, BA and MBA, but your parents, college classes or stressful work never prepare you for this. Thanks for listening all and please respond your thoughts no matter what you feel.
Thanks, Matthew from the Midwest
Your father and mother executed a Revocable Living Trust, leaving everything to the other. If there were no other heirs, then when your father passed, your mother inherited everything. The Trust itself became irrevocable, and your mother couldn't make any changes or new Will that would affect the Trust.
However, if she's the sole heir under the Pour-Over Will and in the Trust, then the assets are then hers to own, assign, and/or dispose of.
If there were no contingent beneficiaries, the Trust would have served its purpose and had no further use, again if there were no other beneficiaries named.
So then she could theoretically create a new Will, closing out the Trust as all the assets were conveyed to her if they were funded in the Trust. Once that happened, all she had to do was retitle them, they were her assets, and she could close the Trust.
Is this what happened?
Assuming both your parents signed the Irrevocable Trust, I think there is a serious legal conflict with your mother having executed a new Will which is in conflict with the Trust. However, I'm not experienced in this specific type of situation and really feel this is a matter for an elder law or estate planning attorney.
I don't know of a way to break an Irrevocable Trust; a qualified attorney would, if it's possible.
If on the other hand your father created the Trust for the benefit of himself and your mother (which doesn't seem to be the case if they both executed the Trust), that might be a different situation in which your mother could in fact create her own new Will. Again, this a complex situation which really requires the expertise of someone knowledgeable in these areas.
As to the second part of your post, go back to Chase with your mother, close out the existing account because security has been breached (by your brother) and open a new one. Don't enable any features that could allow your brother to dip into the account for his own purposes.
Chase will easily be able to handle closing of the old account and opening a new one, right there on the spot so you can leave with desk checks for the new account until packages of checks are mailed by Chase to your mother, or perhaps to you to protect them from access by your brother if he visits your mother's home.
However, your profile states that your older brother lives with your mother. Is this still true? You wrote above that you had lunch with her. So, I assume that you live close to her, with your brother living with her? If so, then he's right there in the home to confiscate or access anything he can get his hands on.
If your mother is agreeable, I think you or another sibling, other than your dishonest brother, should take over the checking account. Even with PINs and passwords, and with your mother's apparent difficulty in finding her PIN (if I read your post correctly), she would likely have it written down somewhere, and if your brother finds it, he can forge access to get to her account.
I really don't see any other way to keep him from accessing her funds again, even if he's not named as signatory on her account.
Your post raises one of the hazards of electronic banking.