Virginia Trusts Legal Questions

Since  your mother has a will, and assuming it is valid, your nephew can't inherit anything through intestacy.  Since he is living in your mom's house with her permission, he has not gained any rights through adverse possession.  You don't mention any lease or other agreement in which your mother gave him permission to stay in the house after her death.  Thus, he would have no rights to the house.  However, anyone can claim anything they want, and you can't stop him from making a claim, however bogus.  Moreover, while he has no right to destroy any of your mother's property, that doesn't mean he won't do it.  if you feel it likely that he will destroy her property, you might have a better chance of safeguarding it if he was evicted, but that doesn't seem practical under the circumstances.  Theoretically, if you believe that your mother is no longer competent, you could ask a court to appoint you as her guardian which, if you were successful, would give you the legal power to evict your nephew, but besides the problem of enforcing the eviction, this coure of action would be expensive and would put you at odds with your mother, so I don't recommend it.  Ultimately this is not a legal quesiton, but a  practical one of how best to deal with your nephew, which only you can decide.... Read More

Her debts are her own now, and will become debts of her estate once she has passed.  So, only her estate assets must be used to pay her debts after she dies, and there is usually a small amount of assets that are allowed to be exempt from creditor's claims by the family.  (In Maine, it is $7,000 if there are no dependents or surviving spouse).   The law also prioritizes creditors:  funeral homes usually get paid first, lawyers and costs of probate, taxes and secured creditors all have priority over medical bills.  Retirement benefits that your mother receives now are her assets and are subject to her creditors.  If she named you and your sisters as beneficiaries, those benefits will be paid direclty to the three of you once she dies and should not be considered estate assets. ... Read More