My jurisdiction is: New York, USA
My apologies for the length of this--it's complicated. I am the POA for my mother who is blind, in a wheelchair and has dementia. For 40 years, my mother has lived in a rent controlled apartment, her name on the lease along with a male companion, although they never married. He died intestate (as far as I know) last April, and his sister was named executor.
The sister wants open access to the apartment and to have indefinite time to remove her brother's property (which takes up a room). In addition, she lays claim to just about everything in the house including the microwave and the lighting fixtures. She has had a lot of time in the house to sort and make arrangements, but refuses to wrap it up, and we have stopped granting her entry. She has taken us to housing court for an illegal lockout--the judge threw the case out and suggested we offer her one day to get her brother's effects out, but she refused.
Sister got another lawyer, and my mother has had the help of a free legal service for the lockout. The lawyer there has been kind enough to try to broker a settlement but has gotten nowhere.
Last week, for the second time, sister used her executors papers to convince a police woman to accompany her and demand entry to the house. My mother was alone with a health aide (she has 24 hour Medicaid care). The police refused the aides request to call me, and being intimidated, the aide let them in, then called me at work. I tried calling the precinct twice, but was stonewalled so I left work and went in person. Once at the house, I called 911. The officer(s) responding advised the sister that she only had rights to come in in a 'reasonable' manner, and not if there was any property in question. She left with a shopping cart which I realized later is a household item. My mother has barely enough income to cover her expenses even with public assistance. Replacing an item as small as a shopping cart is significant.
The sister also failed to notify us that her brother had left a bank account in trust for my mother, and she cashed some of the dividend checks after his death.
My main concern is how I can keep the sister from further abuse of her property and our emotional well being. The sister spouts hurtful accusations about my mother 'killing' her brother, and how dare I ask her to contribute rent for storing his property. She also tried to pretend her brother was still alive after his death, called agencies to pick up donations without informing me, listed the apartment as her address with one company.
The lawyer we had helping us is terrific, but is reluctant to continue as he feels we are outside his agencies charter and area of expertise.
Should I start some sort of harassment proceeding against the sister? Due to lack of funds, I would do this myself. How can I find out if any other bank accounts were left in trust for my mother? Is there any point in filing a police report? Thanks for any insights.
My apologies for the length of this--it's complicated. I am the POA for my mother who is blind, in a wheelchair and has dementia. For 40 years, my mother has lived in a rent controlled apartment, her name on the lease along with a male companion, although they never married. He died intestate (as far as I know) last April, and his sister was named executor.
The sister wants open access to the apartment and to have indefinite time to remove her brother's property (which takes up a room). In addition, she lays claim to just about everything in the house including the microwave and the lighting fixtures. She has had a lot of time in the house to sort and make arrangements, but refuses to wrap it up, and we have stopped granting her entry. She has taken us to housing court for an illegal lockout--the judge threw the case out and suggested we offer her one day to get her brother's effects out, but she refused.
Sister got another lawyer, and my mother has had the help of a free legal service for the lockout. The lawyer there has been kind enough to try to broker a settlement but has gotten nowhere.
Last week, for the second time, sister used her executors papers to convince a police woman to accompany her and demand entry to the house. My mother was alone with a health aide (she has 24 hour Medicaid care). The police refused the aides request to call me, and being intimidated, the aide let them in, then called me at work. I tried calling the precinct twice, but was stonewalled so I left work and went in person. Once at the house, I called 911. The officer(s) responding advised the sister that she only had rights to come in in a 'reasonable' manner, and not if there was any property in question. She left with a shopping cart which I realized later is a household item. My mother has barely enough income to cover her expenses even with public assistance. Replacing an item as small as a shopping cart is significant.
The sister also failed to notify us that her brother had left a bank account in trust for my mother, and she cashed some of the dividend checks after his death.
My main concern is how I can keep the sister from further abuse of her property and our emotional well being. The sister spouts hurtful accusations about my mother 'killing' her brother, and how dare I ask her to contribute rent for storing his property. She also tried to pretend her brother was still alive after his death, called agencies to pick up donations without informing me, listed the apartment as her address with one company.
The lawyer we had helping us is terrific, but is reluctant to continue as he feels we are outside his agencies charter and area of expertise.
Should I start some sort of harassment proceeding against the sister? Due to lack of funds, I would do this myself. How can I find out if any other bank accounts were left in trust for my mother? Is there any point in filing a police report? Thanks for any insights.
