Maria C Schmidlkofer’s Answers

A healthcare power of attorney in Oregon is called an Advance Directive. The Advance Directive appoints a healthcare representative to make make healthcare decisions on a person's behalf. It also enables a person to decide in advance if she wants tube feeding or life support in four end of life situations as defined under Oregon law. However, your daughter needs to understand the document in order to sign it. Your daughter will likely need to have you appointed Guardian by the court so...

You should try to find the attorney who drafted the will if there was one. The attorney should have a copy of it. Even if you cannot find the will, you will still need to proceed with filing a court probate to transfer the house. Without a will, your dad's estate is "intestate". This means that Oregon makes a will for him. Through intestate succession, without a will, your dad's property will go to his wife (and half to his children if the children are from a different marriage). If your...

Once the father's will is admitted to the court probate, the executor of the will has the responsibility to pay the bills and maintain the house using money from the estate. The executor will also work with the realtor to sell the house and distribute the proceeds equally between the two sons.

An executor is a person named in a will to take the will through the court probate. If there is a probate, the will would be on file with the court and you should be able to request a copy. If there is a trust set up by a lawyer, you should be able to contact the Trustee or the lawyer representing the Trustee to find out if you are named as a beneficiary under the trust. A trust is a private document which will not be presented to court unless contested. If you feel you have grounds to...

While person can have more than one power of attorney, I would have a lawyer review them. The document signed last may state that it revokes all prior powers of attorney.

I agree with the answers above. I would like to add that the manner in which to property is titled is key. Was it owned by the deceased person alone, jointly, or in a living trust? You will need to know this prior to figuring out where the property goes at someone's death.

You should read through the power of attorney. Does it include the power to make healthcare decisions for your dad? If so, then you likely have the authority to help him move to a better environment. However, the bigger issue is whether your sister will honor this document. If not, you will likely need to go through the court to set up a guardianship/conservatorship for your dad. If your dad has capacity, he can contest this. In addition, your sister may seek to be appointed as the guardian/...

As the Guardian, you do not have the authority to sell a person's belongings or property after the person passes away. At death, the will, or living trust if they had one, controls where the property goes. Unless the property was jointly owned, in a living trust or had a beneficiary designation on it, a court probate will likely be required to transfer the property.

The question is really whether your cousin understands what the power of attorney is for and what rights he is giving the agent by signing it as well as what it means to revoke it. It sounds like the son may need to petition the court to become guardian over his father and conservator for his dad's finances. The court would then evaluate competence to determine whether this is needed and in your cousin's best interests.

In general, the executor will wait until the probate is complete and expenses and taxes have been paid prior to distributing the funds. If you have a compelling reason, you could request the executor to petition the court for a partial distribution.