My rights as an in-law

[LeonaJune]

My husband's mother is in the middle stages of Alzheimers and cannot be left alone for long periods of time. She lives 250 miles away in a neighboring state, and my retired husband spends two weeks a month with her. The other two weeks his cousin checks up on her. She is to the point now where she will have to have someone with her all the time or go into a nursing home. My husband is co-owner of her house and all her money and assets. His idea is that we move in and take care of her or we place her in a nursing facility and move into her house. He is an only child and will inherit everything. However, I do not have title to her home or any of her assets, and if I were to move in with her or move into her house after she is in a nursing home, what rights do I have? What if she decided she didn't want me there in a moment of lucidity and had me thrown out? I hesitate to give up everything I have and move into a house where I might be evicted at a moment's notice. We currently rent an apartment, so I wouldn't have a home to return to. So far, my husband does not have guardianship or power of attorney. He is just co-owner (or partner) of all her properties.

 

[seniorjudge]

My husband's mother is in the middle stages of Alzheimers and cannot be left alone for long periods of time. She lives 250 miles away in a neighboring state, and my retired husband spends two weeks a month with her. The other two weeks his cousin checks up on her. She is to the point now where she will have to have someone with her all the time or go into a nursing home. My husband is co-owner of her house and all her money and assets. His idea is that we move in and take care of her or we place her in a nursing facility and move into her house. He is an only child and will inherit everything. However, I do not have title to her home or any of her assets, and if I were to move in with her or move into her house after she is in a nursing home, what rights do I have? What if she decided she didn't want me there in a moment of lucidity and had me thrown out? I hesitate to give up everything I have and move into a house where I might be evicted at a moment's notice. We currently rent an apartment, so I wouldn't have a home to return to. So far, my husband does not have guardianship or power of attorney. He is just co-owner (or partner) of all her properties.

The only rights you would have would come through your husband.

I suggest that you tell your husband that before you pack up and haul off for someplace else, that you want him to get a guardianship over her FIRST so that she will not be able to make any arbitrary decisions about you.

(You can't get a POA now since she is incompetent. Also, this really isn't a legal question but a family relations question. Good luck and protect yourself BEFORE something happens.)