My wife and I moved from Michigan to Maryland to help my mother take care of my father with Alzheimer's. After 2 years my father passed away then my mother unexpectedly followed less than 2 months later. We hired a lawyer after finding a Will from 1975 that was worded right for all three beneficiaries. My wife and I continued to live in the house paying the utilities while the appointed executor of the estate did not pay any of the estate bills i.e the mortatage, home equity loan, property taxes on two homes, insurance on two properties along with their vehicle's insurance and keep up the bills and all property upkeep on both properties to include the utilities on the other property. There was never any agreement other then giving us time to move out about a year. The estate had more than enough money and assets to upkeep both estates, my wife and I verbally agreed to pay the utilities. Now after moving I am being told that I was a renter when no such agreement was made.
While you were caring for your parents, you were their guest. Once they passed, unless there was a written agreement that you could live in the property for one year, you became a tenant at will. It became the duty of the executor of the estate to evict you and sell the property to pay the estate's debts, dividing the rest according to the Will or, if a Will was not admitted to probate (proving), according to the state's laws of inheritance.
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