Ask a Lawyer: Adult Guardianship and Trusteeship

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Psychological and Financial abuse

David Busse (surrey)

I have a 93 year old father inlaw. Congestive heart patient and his wife 88 years old (a dementia patient) who moved into assisted living. A sister in law had been living with them for the last 20+ years. There was an agreement to inherit the house if they died while living there. They have outlived that and the sister in law has intimidated them into signing the jointly owned home over to her with no compensation. I suspect this is complicated given how old the inlaws I'm not sure how long something like this would take if it went to court and how difficult this is to prove If we did go to court.

0 6 months ago - edited 6 months ago

David Busse (surrey)

Short version of the question is this worth pursuing or do we just bite the bullet and move on?

0 6 months ago

Dawn Nelson - Dawn L. Nelson, Barrister & Solicitor (Edmonton)
   Verified Lawyer

Hi David,

I am sorry to hear you are going through this; it is a tough situation for your family on so many levels.

I would encourage you to speak to a lawyer in a private and confidential consultation to explore your options. One would need more details to give you specific advice, but on the face of it I see possible causes of action in elder abuse/family protection, real estate fraud, financial fraud, dissipation or unlawful disposition of family assets, and a need for some estate planning. One cannot predict how long any legal action might take, but some of the remedies are pretty immediate (like family protection orders) and some types of actions survive the death of a party (family property actions).

Contacting a lawyer would be a worthwhile investment before deciding if you want to take action. Please note that there are limitation dates at play here, so the earlier you speak to a lawyer, the better, to ensure you do not miss the opportunity to take legal action if that is what you decide to do.


0 6 months ago

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