Help, DL! I need advice.

You need a real estate attorney.

I have a real estate attorney, the title search was done and we've been waiting now for the family to make whatever financial decisions deemed best for my parents. After texting my sister today hoping to get things resolved, the response is that it won't be happening at this time, or for the foreseeable future. I'm not sure if there is anything my attorney can do.

You’re dull as dishwater …

If the house was one their name this whole time, there's nothing to be done about it. You sister won, it's over.

Sucks, but this is just how it goes sometimes.

I think you need an estate attorney to advise you because yours is an estate matter.

The attorney may find that you have no legal right to the house, in which case your relatives would have to gift it to you and file a gift tax return that reduces the lifetime estate tax exemption of the legal owner(s) of the house.

If the evidence indicates to the attorney that you do have a legal right to house, you might need the attorney to put pressure on your relatives.

So sorry, OP. OTOH, it's a shame you didn't take care of this years ago.

You never know when (or for what reason) family might turn on you.

It's their house, and you paid for it! You played this very poorly, and I'm sorry.

Exactly^

Op loses —the end.

Sadly OP, R7 is right, if your narrative is accurate.

In the eyes of the law, it’s your parents’ house. They are on legal record as its owners — you are not.

Putting on my fake real estate attorney hat, until an actual attorney shows up, but here's some things I'd want to know:

When you say "I paid my parent's loan amount each month until it was paid off in 15 years" who exactly were you paying? Them, or the bank. If you were paying the bank directly, I think a court would take that into consideration as to ownership, and would like to know why you were paying off this loan of theirs. If you were paying them, are they now saying it was rent? Were they saying that at the time, or something completely different? Is there proof either way?

I don't really get the "tax implications" part of this and Title 19. I would think somebody trying to get into a nursing home, if they are actually talking about Medicaid for nursing home care, I would think that's when you actually start shedding assets, rather than clinging to them. I may be wrong about all the implications of this, but that's why I wonder. What are they really talking about here? If she owns various homes around the place, I'm guessing that actually hurts any Title 19 claim. But that's why I say I'm not an attorney, so who knows if some fucked up law works in some opposite way.

Medicaid? Hahahaha!

R10, I wrote checks to my parents directly, and I could likely prove the paper trail. Everything was a verbal agreement, but even the last few conversations with my father, his plan was to sign things over. Power of attorney was granted to my sister because my mother is likely incapable of signing. Again, I have no idea how not divesting will be helpful to them, nor do I see a way of them shielding their other assets. I'm not sure if my sister is just being a bitch or if keeping the house in their name is beneficial.

Amen, R11. Why are they trying to scam Medicaid? Title XIX is for indigent people, not (relatively) well off ones.

Sure took you long enough to lock down a man.

OP are you absolutely sure they won't do the right thing?

I think the intention is/was there, R15 but again what I've been told for months now is that they were talking to their lawyer and investment person trying to figure out what the best solution for them is. I truly am at a loss as to why they wouldn't, but I don't know what additional taxes might be incurred, and yes R11, I don't understand how they could even be eligible.

Should've put your name on the deed to the house the second you paid the loan off, OP - or sat down with your parents and a lawyer when you took on that financial burden - assuming this isn't an EST.

Trust me, R17. It should have been done, but it wasn't. I can't imagine anyone posting this as an EST. It's just shitty family drama.

I'm sorry your family pulled the rug out from under you like that, OP. That's dirty pool.

Also are you 100% sure the house is now worth $400,000? Has it been inspected?

I mention inspection because a cousin purchased a home only to discover later it wasn't worth nearly what he paid.

Yes, Kitty. I'm very familiar with the local market. I'll be speaking to my lawyer tomorrow to see if there's anything I can do. Hopefully he can shed further light on the tax issues.

Good luck OP. Let us know how it goes.

Good, I'd really be curious what your lawyer says about that r22, that and why paying your parents steadily for years doesn't give you any ownership stake at all. Though again, I guess it might not, if it's considered rent, but I'm not sure it could be if those amounts are the exact amounts of the loan repayment. But really, that would just be something I'd be curious about from a real lawyer.

R10 your second para is nonsense.

R16 you keep peeling the onion back on your ignorance. Oy vey

So how does that work then r25? How do you get eligible for Title 19? Or is that really not the issue at all? Does what the family is talking about make sense in that context? What are the "tax implications"?

The second para asserts that the making of payments may override the record ownership, in court.

NO.

Oh, okay, misinterpreted you r28. Well, you know better than I do, I'm guessing. I do hope it works out for OP somehow though, cause his family seems like they suck ass. But there may be no real just solution here.

I'm estate and trust adjacent, but not an attorney. If your attorney feels you have a case, he/she can, at a minimum, write a letter to your sister and your dad, pleasant of course, outlining how they need to go ahead and sign off on this house that has always been yours per multi year verbal agreement. He can draw up the quit claim and include it in the correspondence. And imply that taking care of this now will prevent it from going into litigation. That may make it scorched earth, and you would need to weigh if this house is worth it to possibly lose your family and any future inheritance. But they are clearly scrounging around to save money on your mother's care, so they probably don't want to give an attorney a retainer to defend this. Your dad knows better and is stressed about caring for his wife while not losing any net worth. Your sister is probably being an ass and sees a bonus house coming up in her future inheritance. I see this kind of BS all the time among siblings. Potential windfalls show us how some historically decent people can turn really dark and happily take what they now believe is theirs from their own family.

This actually happened to my husband, years before I met him, he was in his 20's so the deed was in dad's name, and my husband paid his dad. About four years later my husband was in a better financial situation and wanted to sell that house and buy a nicer one. His dad said, oh actually, I'm going to give that house to your sister, she really needs it. Husband went along with it, and his sister didn't even know until fairly recently what went down. In the big picture it all worked out okay, his parents were very wealthy, and he inherited a lot, but he never forgot it. I'm glad the dad passed away before I met him. Who does that?

Thanks, R30. I already expect that I will be disinherited. It's ridiculous that it's come to this, and I've already walked away from them after their refusal to meet my husband. After a lifetime of being told that family is everything, it's darkly funny how things have turned out Get EVERYTHING in writing, especially with family.

TBH, that’s on you as much as it is on them.

If someone ( parent or sister, etc) claim that the money you paid to your parents was RENT, that someone had better be ready to clearly and legally explain to the IRS why taxes had never been paid on that “income”. I think you might have a bit more leverage here than it appears at first.

R33 With a good lawyer, there’s always leverage.

R33 Tax is easily addressed. It won’t change fee title.

Thanks, all. I will follow up after I talk with my lawyer tomorrow. I just hope my stupid life is a warning to others.

We are still waiting. We’d love to hear your lawyer 😵‍💫

Get a life, would you OP, and stop posting these ridiculous fictitious narratives. If you need a friend, get a dog ... oh, wait; that was last month's EST.

What's happening, OP? Any news?

Op died. He fell out of window on to the 405

Ask DeepSeek, not Datalounge.