Ask the Expert: Inheritance up to mom

My sister coerced our 77-year-old mother into putting all her assets -- about $500,000 -- into my sister's name. She told our mother, that way, mom could get Medicaid after five years. My mom doesn't realize the money will no longer be hers after that time. I believe this was a way of stealing my inheritance since mom's will names us both. What can I do to prevent my sister from stealing my mom's money?

Talk to your mother and find out what she intended.

Maybe she didn't understand she was disinheriting you; but be aware that if that was her intention, she was entirely within her legal rights. And just to be clear, although it's true that it will be five years before Medicaid no longer deems this money available to pay for your mother's nursing home care, it stopped being hers as soon as she transferred it to your sister.

Your mother's the only person who can take legal action to recover her money, says John Barnosky, a Melville estate lawyer. If she was misled or coerced, her first step should be to ask your sister to return it. Or if she intended the transfer as a Medicaid-planning strategy, but didn't mean to disinherit you, she can ask your sister to give you half the money. If your sister refuses, your mother can bring a lawsuit against her to recover it, Barnosky says.

If your mother is mentally incompetent, you can apply to be named her legal guardian and sue your sister on her behalf. In that case, Barnosky says, you'd have two legal arguments: first, that your mother lacked capacity to understand what she was doing, and second, that she was coerced into giving away her money.

The bottom line Any legal action belongs to your mother.

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