Dad with Dementia Estate Issues

[Lazarus]

My question involves personal property located in the State of: South Carolina

My Dad has dementia. We have been caring for him for the last year or so. We moved him from the east coast to the mid-west after a stroke. I have two step siblings that pretty much abandoned my dad after their mom committed suicide back in their home state where my dad and their mom (my step mother) accumulated their wealth mostly in real estate. My parents divorced and remarried when I was in my teens. I am now in my 60's. We suspect foul play with the Estate. I am trying to figure out what to do about it.

[searcher99]

This is not an area that I know much about, but my first thought is that you might need the services of a private asset search investigator.

[bcr229]

How long has it been since your father's second wife passed away?

[Lazarus]

2 years

[bcr229]

Was your dad still married when she passed? Was there a Will? Was probate opened?

[llworking]

Did they own assets jointly, or separately? It would be difficult for them to do anything nefarious with jointed owned assets or with assets only in your father's name, unless they had a POA for your dad. The joint assets would have passed to your father outside of any estate. As to stepmom's estate, you could pay a lawyer in South Carolina to research if probate was ever opened on her estate and what resulted from that.

[pg1067]

My Dad has dementia. We have been caring for him for the last year or so. We moved him from the east coast to the mid-west after a stroke.

First of all, who are "we"?

Second, why did you move him?

Third, your post is tagged as "involv[ing] personal property located in . . . South Carolina." Is that correct?

I have two step siblings that pretty much abandoned my dad after their mom committed suicide back in their home state where my dad and their mom (my step mother) accumulated their wealth mostly in real estate.

Since he's not their father, this doesn't seem too terribly surprising. Also, is South Carolina "their home state"?

We suspect foul play with the Estate.

Huh? Whose estate? You're aware that your father doesn't have an estate while he's still alive, right? Or are you talking about the estate of his now deceased second wife?

I am trying to figure out what to do about it.

What to do about what? Since you haven't told us anything at all about the "foul play" that you "suspect," there isn't much of anything anyone here can tell you.

[Lazarus]

Apparently they were in the process of a divorce but it was not finalized before she passed. Yes there is a will. I am getting a copy. I am checking on the probate question. I may have to hire a lawyer to get that information. I suspect my dad may have signed some kind of settlement before she passed. My dad is very vague when we discuss this.

Just answering good questions. Please keep them coming. I have no idea how to move forward on this:

The we is me and my two brothers (biological sons). He fell for a Publishers Clearing House scam that was into for 100K planning to invest more to get his prize. They guy still calls him today looking for money to help him get his money back. It requires constant monitoring to keep him in check with all of the scams. We are pondering a conservatorship. His portion of what I believe to have been a 3 million dollar estate was about 300K and is now less than 200K. He then suffered a stroke. We made the move to get him closer to family that was willing to try to help him. Did I say he is in memory care where he probably should have been back when this was all going on? We were not fully aware of his condition until we moved him. He started living with one of my brothers but we had to move him into assisted living. They quickly suggested a move to memory care which we did.
Yes, property in South Carolina
Whose Estate? Sorry, I am not a lawyer and not aware of exact terminology. This is what I am trying to figure out. They were in the middle of a divorce when his wife committed suicide. There was a lot of lawyering going on at the time. I suspect he signed some kind of settlement under duress. He did not want the divorce. My understanding is she was not happy about the direction the divorce settlement was going. There was no love lost between my dad's wife and us, his biological son's. She did not like us at all. My dad has talked about her hoarding money. There were also a couple of real estate transactions that I want to find out more about. Sounds like they sold one house that was jointly owned and I believe purchased a new one under her name.

[pg1067]

I'm still not sure what issue you think exists currently. Here's what you've told us so far:

1. Your father has dementia.
2. Approximately a year ago, you and your brothers moved your father from some unidentified state on the east coast (South Carolina?) to another unidentified state in the midwest.
3. Following your parents' divorce, your father remarried. His second wife had two kids, and at some unstated time in the past, she committed suicide.
4. Your father and his second wife "accumulated their wealth mostly in real estate," which is apparently located in South Carolina.

Based on those facts, there isn't any issue to be addressed. If he's still mentally competent, he should engage in estate planning, and you can help him find an attorney to do that. However, if his dementia is such that he is no longer competent, then that's not an option.

You've now told us about some sort of scam, and you can certainly try to assist him with that.

You've also now told us that "[h]is portion of what [you] believe to have been a 3 million dollar estate was about 300K." That's new information, but what does it mean? Whose estate are you talking about? His second wife's estate?

An estate is the collection of all of a person's assets that are to be distributed after the person's death. For purposes of distribution through probate, one's estate does not include assets held in trust, assets in an account with a pay-on-death beneficiary, and assets owned jointly with another with the right of survivorship.

Beyond that, all you've mentioned is some speculation, which doesn't allow for any sort of informed feedback.

I would suggest that you consult with a local attorney about the possibility of estate planning for your father and the possibility of a conservatorship.