Thank you for that info. The deed on the farm says, “joint tennacy with right of suvivorship”, which I was told, by a lawyer, gives her the farm when he dies. I did not know it would give her anything other than the farm & possibly whatever is on it. He has 3 trucks and 2 trailers. She drives one truck, he bought it used for her for $1,800, he said she’s paid him $30 towards it so far. One that he drives, & a 4WD that they use on the farm. But she told me he set the 4WD truck on fire when he worked on a fuel leak on the carburator. So would tennancy on his farm establish tennacy on all his properties, accounts, etc?
Thank you for the info and encouragement.
Okay, as I suspected, she established a joint tenancy and got him to sign on the dotted line. It may only apply to land and the buildings on it, but it all depends on the language in the document... which should be on file with the County in which the property resides. You can get a copy.
What I learned, the hard way, is that Joint Tenancy (JT) supersedes any previously drawn-up individual wills. Usually that language is in the JT, and it makes the surviving spouse the Executor of the estate.
It is worth finding out who he has named Beneficiary on bank accounts, insurance and stocks as well. I’m not a lawyer or paralegal, mind you, but learned this from experience.
For example, a Deacon at my mother’s church had me removed as Beneficiary on one of her bank accounts and had himself named instead. She probably did not know he was doing that, thought he was “helping” when he took her to the bank. I learned this after she had a stroke and was in hospital. Of course, these people didn’t show up to help with all the caregiving, etc., needed for her.
The best thing that aging parents can do for their children is to start transferring assets while they are still relatively well, setting up trusts, etc.
There are numerous stories of “outsiders” getting into older people’s lives towards the end and influencing them against the best interests of their blood family members, sorry to say.