ALL THINGS REAL ESTATE Estate planning the path to provide for adult children who have problems

Q: I am one of three sisters and my mother has been a widow for the past 17 years. Mom owns a small ranch outside of Vacaville. She turned 73 in December. Here’s our problem: My other two sisters have lived a, shall we say, hard life. Both have been drug users and alcohol abusers for most of their adult lives. They are 52 and 54 now. The older sister lives in a halfway house. The ranch is the only thing Mom owns and we figure it’s worth about $1 million. My mother has always helped my sisters out financially when they needed it, which they have on a regular basis. I, on the other hand, went to college, married a profes sional and have never been in any sort of trouble, financial or otherwise. Mom wants me to get the ranch when she dies so I can continue to help my sisters when they need it. So I guess my question is, what’s the best way to make sure I get the ranch so I can carry out Mom’s wishes?

A: Look, nothing personal, but I don’t know you and have no information other than what you’ve provided here. Based on nothing more than that limited information there are two possible ways any experienced attorney (or judge) would look at you and your request.

On the one hand, you may be a wonderful sister who has not made the mistakes in life your siblings have but are nonetheless dedicated to fulfilling your mother’s wishes and caring for your family.

Or you could be the kind of person the courts will, by default, consider you to be. That would make you a sister who is using her superior educational and economic status to coerce your poor aging mother into giving you everything and

I’m hoping for the former but believe me when I tell you that have the family farm they will bring a lawsuit making claims capacity and that you unfairlycially and emotionally, to defend that lawsuit.

Plus, when there is an unnatural distribution of the inheritance, the courts put the responsibility of showing there was no hanky-panky on the person who got the loot.

If you and your mother are sincere in your desire to take care of your sisters, there are better ways to do it than simply getting the ranch transferred to you personally.

For example, your mother can have a trust drafted which leaves a percentage of the value of her estate in trust for each of your sisters. She can appoint you as the trustee with a mandate that a certain amount of money be given on a designated schedule to each of the sisters. There can be some discretionary provisions that allow you to give them something extra under certain circumstances, such as health care needs. That way, when your mom dies, your sisters don’t get a huge sum of money they may blow on drugs and booze. That’s just one example. There are myriad ways to set up an estate plan to provide for adult children who can’t provide for themselves. laundry room. 2-car garage w/opener. New front and rear landscaping. All on a spacious corner lot!

Frankly, this really isn’t a real estate issue. It’s an estate planning issue.

Your mom needs to sit down with a good estate planning attorney and honestly discuss this situation. Believe me, it isn’t that unique.

My best advice to you personally is that you stay as far away from your mother’s estate planning as possible. You’re trying to avoid being accused of undue influence over your mother and thus avoid being dragged into a lawsuit after Mom dies.

Tim Jones is a real estate attorney in Fairfield. If you have any real estate issues you would like to have discussed in this column, you can send an email to AllThingsRealEstate@ TJones-Law.com.

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