Inheritance for carer sibling

[Klum]

My brother has moved in to my mother's house who has Alzheimer's. He oversees the carers who come several times a day, and provides additional care in between care visits if needed. I live 6 hours away and try to help as much as I can. There is a bit of a back story involving my bother withdrawing large unauthorized amounts (and sometimes through coercive means) of money from my parents bank account, before he became carer. My brother has never been close with my parents and I wonder if he has an ulterior financial motive, with regards to the future sale of my mother's house. I would be grateful if anyone has any knowledge on whether my brother would be entitled to a greater share and/or the entire house, or other financial gain, once mum passes, if he is currently living there and caring for her. I want what is best for my mum but trying to get my head around the sudden expression of care from my previously hostile brother. Any advise would be gratefully appreciated.

There's no automatic right to any share of your mother's property just because he lives there. However if your mum needs to move to a care home at any point, as he is possibly counted as a dependent the house may not be needed to be sold for fees until she dies. So he may have free accommodation for a time.

However I would be concerned about what he has persuaded your mum to do about the will rather than anything else, if he has a history of coercive behaviour.

Sadly you need to prepare yourself to find a will in your brother’s favour.

It will depend on her will.

If she has no will and no spouse you and your sibling (s) will inherit equally.

If a will emerges made without help of a solicitor and since her diagnosis of Alzheimer’s and lacking capacity, you would have grounds to challenge it.

Do you and your brother have joint Power of Attorney over her finance?

Has she had a formal diagnosis? If so he shouldn't be able to enact any change to the will in his favour without giving you a strong case to contest the will.

Do you know who is executor in her will? Any withdrawals from the account may be traceable after your mum passed and will need to be accounted for.

You may be looking at a big mess to sort out afterwards. I would be tempted to investigate if you could become power of attorney for her financial matters asap. Might be worth contacting adult social services and tell them about your brother's history with your parents and see what they advise.

Try to get power of attorney. If he has the power and tries to block you from also doing so, this is your answer and you then need to get legal advice. Regarding the will I am not sure but I assume you would be able to challenge it if there’s been a new one since her diagnosis. Do you have any copies of any previous will?

Living 6 hours away and organising and then running your mum’s financial affairs will be extremely difficult. You might just have to accept you are not around but your sibling is. You can also get a health and welfare POA, but again, you aren’t around. How will you actually execute your duties? It would be difficult to disagree with your sibling.

Is your DM happy with the arrangement? Is it working in her best interests for health and welfare?

The will is the important document. Have you seen it? What’s in it? This will determine what happens to her estate.