Changing Wills and Power of Attorney

**Lightningcount** · 03-31-2012, 07:44 PM

This is a very complicated and very interesting puzzle here. I live in Texas, Dallas County if that has any bearing on my question.

My mother and father have full power of attorney over my grandparent's finances, health, and pretty much their lives. I recently found out that they changed the will to exclude the grand children from it. Now I know that normally, they would not be able to change a will with power of attorney. However my grandparents had their assets allocated in Washington Mutual, originally placed there when it was called Bank United before WaMu bought them out.

As you all know, WaMu is no more. So my parents made the prudent choice to move their assets and spread them out over several different stocks and bonds. The total amount they were worth was well into the 20 million range. My granddad was an employee of Raytheon during, and after WW2 as an aeronautical technician. He was very smart with his money and invested heavily.

When WaMu collapsed, my grandmom had bad dementia and my granddad had very bad alzheimers. So neither of them were in their correct minds. My parents were able to take their wills and change them up so that my dad and my uncle get everything and the grandkids get zip. Originally we were said to get 1 million apiece before uncle sam took his cut.

I want to know if what they did was legal. It seems to me like they took what they wanted and left everyone else to rot in the dust. What can I do??

**Mr. Knowitall** · 03-31-2012, 08:46 PM

A power of attorney holder cannot rewrite a will. If your grandparents were /are mentally competent, they could / can change their own wills. If you mean to say that they changed their wills even though they're not mentally competent, there would be potential grounds to challenge the new wills based upon that (or possibly undue influence, or both).

**Lightningcount** · 04-01-2012, 01:40 AM

What I am saying is that, somehow, my parents changed the will of my grandparents when my grandparents were both well into senility. The excuse used was that a large portion of their funds was in Washington Mutual and the will needed to be changed because it would be null and void when WaMu closed down. If that even makes sense, I am going off of hearsay at the moment as I was only 17 back then.

But it does appear that they were given the power to change the will in the power of attorney by my grandmother back before they were put into the nursing home. However I do not see how this could be true, or how it could be legally possible as my grandmother was out of her mind back then. She was always making wild accusations like saying one of the dogs ate her sunday dresses, or that someone was breaking in their house and stealing dog food. She also filed a police report against me and my sister saying we robbed them at gun point and said my, then, 1 year old niece stole the car. This all happened before the power of attorney was granted.

Btw not making this up. I have in my house somewhere, a police report where my grandmother said a 1 year old girl stole their car while me and my sister robbed them of possessions. The report is followed up by saying that we broke back into the house and my, then, one year old niece held a shotgun on them while we put the stolen stuff back and left the car there.

We have ample proof that they were out of it back then.

My main question is this. If we, me my sister and my cousin, take this to court, what would be the best/worst case scenario?

Also, as I have never once been in court in my life, I have no idea what kind of attorney I should be seeking or how to approach this issue.

**harrylime** · 04-01-2012, 08:23 AM

The excuse used was that a large portion of their funds was in Washington Mutual and the will needed to be changed because it would be null and void when WaMu closed down.

That is nonsense.

You wander back and forth between present and past tense. Are your grandparents still alive?

My main question is this. If we, me my sister and my cousin, take this to court, what would be the best/worst case scenario?

Also, as I have never once been in court in my life, I have no idea what kind of attorney I should be seeking or how to approach this issue.

Best case: The current will is declared invalid and a prior will is accepted as valid by the court.

Worst case:
a) Your challenge fails.
b) Your challenge succeeds, but the court does not accept a prior will as valid, and the estate is administered under intestacy.

You want to take what you have and consult with a probate/trust attorney - preferably one with experience in will contests.