My mom and her husband bought a mobile home and both their names were on the title. Can anyone help?

Get an attorney.

Also, I believe that absent a per-marital agreement, in NY, a spouse cannot completely disinherit their spouse. A spouse is entitled to an amount/percentage of the estate. So even if husband had a will that said all to daughter, none to wife, that should be able to be fought in probate court. Daughter should not be able to change the title on the car without going through probate.

lawyer

I suggest getting a lawyer, especially one specializing in estate planning and elder law. His daughter can not just "take" whatever she wishes. I suggest also getting an legal order to keep her away from your mom and her property. If they were legally married and lived in a place together, your mom should be able the "inherit" her spouse's share of their property.

Find attorneys that offer free consultations. I’d start there.

Ok thank you everyone for the advice. I will let you know how I make out. I did send in a hippo form to her doctors and was able to talk to him today. He is sending me something saying my mom does have a mild form of dementia and setting up an appointment with a neurologist as soon as we can

When you get the paperwork I would call my local DA and tell them that your mom was taken advantage of. Just explain to him or her what you have posted here. Don't forget to tell them that you have the paperwork to show your mom is no longer on the title and she has some form of dementia. Your mom's husband had no right to give his daughter the whole tailer and his daughter had no right to the 11,000 dollars.

This was a crime. Isthisrealyreal is right. Your mom's husband daughter took advantage of her dad and your mom.

Okay, there is not enough factual information, But I am going to proceed "as If" I know what I am talking about.

The title company has the facts. They just told you the documents were 'given' to them on March 2nd. It is their job to search the title, to see who owns it, and who it is being transferred to.
This takes time, maybe in a 30-60-90 day ESCROW.

I found out once, that if an ESCROW Company receives differing instructions from the current owners, or those who have an interest
in the property, a delay will occur until the facts are checked and verified. So dispute the transfer and Title.

The Escrow Company and Title Company are different legal entities. And, if there is a loan company, you can put the cabash on that too.

Contact the Title Company, saying there is fraud. Do not wait.
Then put it in writing. have your Mom sign it, and hand deliver to the Title company.....and the Escrow Company, and the County Recorder's office, Or is it the DMV? Hand deliver. Don't wait for anyone to give you documents at this point. The papers have not likely been filed yet at the County Recorder's offices, (or the DMV), which may be closed.

Mom states she is the owner of the trailer, who's husband has died.

Okay, not the county recorder, but maybe the DMV in New York?
Does the trailer/mobilehome have a license plate on it somewhere? Get it! Look for the VIN number on the trailer. Usually found on the whatchamacallit (triangle metal base the home sits on-tongue?). Sheesh, sorry. Search where to find the VIN number:https://www.mobilehomesell.com/mobile-home-vin-number/

The daughter does not live there, does she?

If the title to the mobile home was changed without your Mom signing, or without her awareness, that is fraud. You need to know when it was changed and how, as your Mother's names was on it. HOWEVER, all in all, a court case, with no one taking this one for the state, etc. will be much more costly than likely the mobile home is worth. Glad you took away your Mom's credit cards and cancelled them. You will not be seeing the 11,000 of course. And apparently the daughter had her father convinced early on. She has no rights over your Mom currently, and 11,000 would not have gone too far to improve her life and standard of care. Just walk away from it since you know already that no one will help with it. The daughter apparently manipulated a frail father into doing as she asked. So sorry. How awful for you. Do know that the daughter is almost certainly the executor for her father's estate, so a probate will likely be filed. This is a public document filed in the court and you can be certain your Mom was not left anything.

I would call the law and tell them that your mom is a victim of financial exploitation of a vulnerable senior.

They will get involved and help you find the agency that can help you find an attorney to represent your mom and her interests, you have to tell them that you need names and contact information to the agencies that can help. They have all that available to them.

I would press charges, actually your mom has to, but don't let her be left out in the cold by this unscrupulous person.

I might have the agency’s mixed up. I will try them again tomorrow. Thank you everyone for your help

No my mom and her husband bought the trailer together about 15 years ago. The title company said it was transferred over to his daughter this March. She is still living there.

I cannot find power of attorney papers. The only thing I have with both names is the health care proxy. His daughter must have all important papers. She even took everything out of his wallet. I couldn’t find my moms credit cards so I cancelled them. I also did call adult protective services and was told they didn’t handle those kind of cases. They do snap, food stamps, medicade. Those kind of things.

To clarify, the title company told you the trailer was "given"  to your mother and stepfather on March 2 (of this year???)  - that doesn't make sense, so I'm assuming the date on the document was from some other year.   If the date is 2020, exactly who gave the trailer to your mother and stepfather?   

Something's not making sense here.

"Given" isn't a legal term and it also makes no sense to me.  I'm not trying to argue with you, but title is "conveyed", and a warranty deed typically states the monetary consideration.    I haven't read a quit claim deed in some time so I don't remember if any "consideration"  (i.e., payment) is included in the QCD form.

But I'm also surprised that anyone working in a title company would use the term "given".  


So your mother is still living in the trailer which the daughter claims she now owns?

Right now I am waiting for the paperwork for the title so I can see when it was signed over and compare signatures. What I don’t understand is she told us she owned his half of the trailer but when I called the title company they said it was given to them on March the 2nd and my mom doesn’t even own half of it. He died on February 22nd. I am trying to find out if we can win this case even if my mom signed the title. I didn’t want to start trouble with her because I am afraid she will kick my mom out

1.  It needs to be determined exactly how title was vested BEFORE anyone made any changes and your father allegedly transferred his interest to his daughter.  

You can go to the local government Register or Recorder of Deeds, whatever it's called in your county, and ask for copies of everything recorded since your parents bought the house.   That's the best way to find out if and when any interests were extinguished and/or conveyed, even if it does go back several years.

2.    You can also hire a real estate attorney, preferably one at a law firm that also handles estate planning, probate and fraud litigation.    The attorney can review and analyze chain of title, assess who actually holds title now, and identify any potential suspicious or improper actions.

3.  Does your mother have a CONFORMED copy of any Powers of Attorney or documents she may have signed?   (Each copy would be signed, and "conformed" would be stamped on the front page.)

3.   As to the car, I think you'd have to get the Secretary of State or whatever state division handles title transfer to provide a copy of the title as well as any transfer, and that would be hard now b/c of government closings.   Michigan's SOS is closed for the most part.

4.   If you can find documentation proving that your mother signed transfer papers, and if your mother can demonstrate that she's sufficiently cognizant of behavior and didn't understand (key word, dementia notwithstanding) what she was signing, the next step would probably be to locate an attorney who handles elder fraud.

However, I have the impression that she may have signed w/o understanding, due to dementia, so that could shift the issue to one of financial elder abuse, for which you'd need an attorney experienced in litigation in this area.    

I do want to emphasize that legal documents aren't easy to understand, and it's possible that anyone could sign and really not understand the implications.   So dementia isn't necessarily the critical factor although given the fact that there might be some short term memory problems, it probably would factor in any analysis.   And I don't know what "proof" an attorney might require to evaluate whether or not to take a case based on lack of understanding vs. dementia impairment.

5.    Has any Probate action been initiated, assuming your stepfather had a will, and that all assets weren't automatically inherited through already prepared documentation?

I'm sorry to learn to such complications arising so shortly after your stepfather's death.   Please let us know what you discover after you've gotten the title work updated, and perhaps analyzed by an attorney.

In the meantime, I think I wouldn't have any verbal conversations with the daughter; communicate in writing so you can document everything.

But work on the first 2 items and see what you find out; it may be that your mother was tricked into signing and doesn't remember, or it may be that the daughter is lying and misrepresenting the situation.  

So, first step is to find out and analyze what documentation you can to reveal what really happened.   Then an attorney can help you assess what options might be appropriate.

Call APS and open a case to protect your Mom and her interest in her husband's estate.

The daughter had no right to anything. She needs to show Mom proof that her father put in writing she gets the trailer and car. If Husband has a will, daughter is entitled to nothing until its probated. I agree, she stole the car. Even if its in Dads name, its not hers.

You may need to get a lawyer. You need to find out when Mom's name was taken off the title. And, let the daughter evict Mom if it comes to that. Where I live it takes 6 months.

NY is not a community property state,  but I find it difficult to believe if mom's name on title, it could be sold without someone forging her name

We live in Saratoga Springs New York. I’m not sure if it is a community property state

1) Do not trust what people tell you or just say, as if they had authority.
2) Get a lawyer to fight this.
a) It may be easier to approach (right now with pandemic) temporarily that she cannot be evicted. Do not move your Mom out.
b) make a police report on the stolen car.

This happens all the time, where an adult child interjects themselves into a marriage "as if" the married couple are not a legal entity separate from whatever father/daughter or mother daughter relationship exists.

I have seen it happen, do not wait one New York minute for this criminal daughter to provide documentation or even an explanation. This is a legal battle. Neighborhood Attorneys will work for free if your Mom qualifies. Are you in a community property state?

So sorry that you are facing this with your Mom. Keep her in her home.