Tweet
Hello all, I would like to know the best course of action for a situation as follows:
Both parents have died, one sibling has moved out and started a family long ago, another sibling never moved out (50+ years of life there) and was "taking care" of one of the very elderly parents for a few years. The sibling that has not moved out has lived there for free for so long under the unofficial agreement that they would take care of the elderly parents. When there was only one parent left being "cared" for, substantial money was coming in to compensate the sibling and their short-term partner for helping with the parent's needs (I believe because it would mean they had to be unemployed to have the time to do that, not that they would likely be employed anyway).
Also, important detail: when the already moved-out sibling suggested a nursing home / care facility, the other sibling refused, saying they would get paid if the parent was kept at home and "cared" for by themself.
Skip forward about a year, both parents are now dead, and the will says 50/50 between the siblings on everything. The house is being claimed by the bank because of a reverse mortgage, and between 100-200 thousand will be left over for inheritance. Scummy never moved-out sibling has been selling valuables from the house, and is heavily heavily believed to be hiding other important items in "their" room that supposedly only has "their own belongings". This is not the main problem. The main problem is that scummy sibling is claiming they went into credit card debt in order to "take care" of the parent (literally just buying adult diapers, food, and covering the houses bills for once over about a year). There is no way that these things were not covered by the money paid to them for "caring" for the parent. They ARE in fact in debt, but for their own incompetence, greed, and material lifestyle. They are going to try and claim that they are owed by the estate for all of their debt, and that all of that is what it cost to stay at home and take care of their parent. The other sibling with a family is going to get 50% of whatever is left, which will likely be nothing considering the amount of debt they have accrued.
These siblings are co-executors, and good sibling is considering applying for a court mediator (25-30% fee from the estate) in order to guarantee the chance to review whatever "receipts" the scumbag sibling might forge. The scummy sibling is not to be trusted on their word, so an agreement to cut out the mediator fee in exchange for not claiming to be a debtee is not an option via word. A contract will likely cost more(?) than the mediator and their fee.
What options are there? What can be done to guarantee that this sibling will not forge receipts or claim to be owed by the estate? Or is the only option to have fees taken out from the estate for a mediator to split the rest 50/50? Sorry for the wall of text, thanks for reading, and thanks in advance for all and any help.
Both parents have died, one sibling has moved out and started a family long ago, another sibling never moved out (50+ years of life there) and was "taking care" of one of the very elderly parents for a few years. The sibling that has not moved out has lived there for free for so long under the unofficial agreement that they would take care of the elderly parents. When there was only one parent left being "cared" for, substantial money was coming in to compensate the sibling and their short-term partner for helping with the parent's needs (I believe because it would mean they had to be unemployed to have the time to do that, not that they would likely be employed anyway).
Also, important detail: when the already moved-out sibling suggested a nursing home / care facility, the other sibling refused, saying they would get paid if the parent was kept at home and "cared" for by themself.
Skip forward about a year, both parents are now dead, and the will says 50/50 between the siblings on everything. The house is being claimed by the bank because of a reverse mortgage, and between 100-200 thousand will be left over for inheritance. Scummy never moved-out sibling has been selling valuables from the house, and is heavily heavily believed to be hiding other important items in "their" room that supposedly only has "their own belongings". This is not the main problem. The main problem is that scummy sibling is claiming they went into credit card debt in order to "take care" of the parent (literally just buying adult diapers, food, and covering the houses bills for once over about a year). There is no way that these things were not covered by the money paid to them for "caring" for the parent. They ARE in fact in debt, but for their own incompetence, greed, and material lifestyle. They are going to try and claim that they are owed by the estate for all of their debt, and that all of that is what it cost to stay at home and take care of their parent. The other sibling with a family is going to get 50% of whatever is left, which will likely be nothing considering the amount of debt they have accrued.
These siblings are co-executors, and good sibling is considering applying for a court mediator (25-30% fee from the estate) in order to guarantee the chance to review whatever "receipts" the scumbag sibling might forge. The scummy sibling is not to be trusted on their word, so an agreement to cut out the mediator fee in exchange for not claiming to be a debtee is not an option via word. A contract will likely cost more(?) than the mediator and their fee.
What options are there? What can be done to guarantee that this sibling will not forge receipts or claim to be owed by the estate? Or is the only option to have fees taken out from the estate for a mediator to split the rest 50/50? Sorry for the wall of text, thanks for reading, and thanks in advance for all and any help.
Comment