- Jurisdiction
- Illinois
This post is rather long, and I apologize for that. Nevertheless, it would be well worth your time to read the entire post.
This legal situation is in Cook County, Illinois.
From 2008 to 2016, my mother and I lived together in a single-family home, and she was the sole owner of the home. In 2016, she added me to the title, and we became Joint Tenants with Right of Survivorship. So, she basically gifted half of the house to me. We continued to live in the house together.
I have a significant amount of money to my name, but she has a lot more money. So, she always paid the property taxes, the electricity bill, the gas bill, and the land-line bill. And, of course, she always paid the bill for her own personal cell phone.
At some point, a number of years ago, she set up auto-pay for the electricity bill, the gas bill, and both phone bills. That means that, every month, money was automatically debited from her checking account to pay these bills.
In 2018, she began to act strangely. She began to see her deceased relatives (her husband, her parents) in our home. I immediately suspected that she had dementia, but her idiot doctor dismissed her hallucinations as depression or anxiety.
In March 2021, she had a mental episode, and she was hospitalized for 6 days. During these 6 days, she was diagnosed with dementia. Unfortunately, the 6-day hospitalization itself ACCELERATED her dementia. Before the hospitalization, she was mostly able to live in our single-family home and take care of herself. She could prepare her own food and eat the food, get her own medications, walk up and down the stairs, etc. After the hospitalization, she was mostly unable to do those things. In just one week, her life was turned upside down.
Since early April 2021, she has lived in two memory-care facilities. I have continued to live in the home that we own together.
I obtained a probate attorney, and this attorney helped me to obtain guardianship of my mother via the Cook County Circuit Court (Probate Division). I am the guardian of my mother's estate (financial situation) and person (health situation). Basically, I am in charge of her entire life.
As her guardian, I have to submit, to the probate-court judge, a budget for the first year of guardianship. This budget will describe how I intend to spend my mother's money during that first year. According to the law, I can spend her money only on things that benefit her directly.
Remember those bills for electricity, gas, the land-line phone, and the cell phone? The bills that were being paid via automatic withdrawals from my mother's checking account? Well, these withdrawals have been continuing while my mother has been living outside of our home and in those memory-care facilities.
Also, earlier this year, while my mother was still living in our home, she paid the 1st installment of our home's 2020 property tax. (In Cook County, the 2019 property tax is paid in two installments in 2020, the 2020 property tax is paid in two installments in 2021, etc.) Recently, the 2nd installment of the 2020 property tax had to be paid, and I went to the property-tax website and arranged for that 2nd installment to be paid via electronic debit from my mother's checking account.
So far, no budget has yet been submitted to the judge, and the judge has not yet made any rulings on how my mother's money can or can not be used. So, I have allowed the auto-pay payments to continue, and I used my mother's money to pay the 2nd installment of the 2020 property tax. Basically, I have continued the status quo.
When my probate lawyer and I spoke about the budget, the lawyer said that her research has shown that our particular judge is very strict when it comes to making sure that the guardian spends money only on things that directly benefit the ward (the person being taken care of by the guardian). In this case, the ward is my mother.
The lawyer believes that, because my mother no longer lives in our home, my mother is no longer directly benefiting from the property taxes, the electricity, the gas, or the land-line phone. Furthermore, because my mother's personal cell phone is in our home, in my safe custody, and not in her custody at the memory-care facility, my mother is no longer directly benefiting from the cell phone. Therefore, the judge will probably not allow the continued use of my mother's money to pay for these things.
I believe that a legal argument can be made that my mother is indirectly benefiting from the phones. For example, her friends and relatives found out about her plight with dementia and her living in memory care, when they called her on these phones and I answered the phones and I told them what was happening to her. And, from time to time, these people call me on these phones and ask me for updates about her and ask me to pass along messages to her. So, she is indirectly communicating with her friends and relatives via these phones.
[By the way, I do have my own cell phone that I pay for. My mother's cell phone is used only for communicating with her friends and relatives.]
Also, it may be possible to make legal arguments in favor of using my mother's money to pay for electricity, gas, and property taxes.
I told my lawyer that she should ask the judge to maintain the status quo. I said to the lawyer that, even if the judge denies our motion, there is no harm in asking for the status quo, right? The worst that the judge can do is to say "no", correct? Well, the lawyer said that there could be harm in asking. She said that, if the judge is pissed off about my request, the judge can order me to pay monthly rent to my mother's bank accounts.
I would pay rent to my mother when we both own the home under Joint Tenancy with Right of Survivorship? I asked the lawyer whether this rent practice is legal and whether there is any legal precedent for this practice. She said that she doesn't know. She simply assumes that the judge can perpetrate this rent practice just because he is the judge. Also, the lawyer is afraid that, if my request pisses off the judge, then the judge will hold some kind of grudge against the lawyer when she comes before him on behalf of other clients.
It seems that she is too scared of this judge to zealously represent my interests. I see criminal-defense lawyers asking judges for probation for convicted murderers. So, shouldn't my probate lawyer represent me as zealously?
Also, the lawyer said that she wants to do what is best for my mother and what is best for me, in that order. So, obviously, the lawyer feels that the status quo is not what is best for my mother. Well, I thought that the client was always the lawyer's first priority. It seems to me that my lawyer may have some type of conflict of interest here. But, then again, even though my lawyer represents me, her services will be paid for by my mother's assets. That is actually the law here in Cook county. So, is my lawyer supposed to be representing me or my mother?
My lawyer feels that, instead of asking the judge for the status quo, we should do the following:
1) Tell the judge about the auto-pay payments and about my mother's indirect communications with her friends and relatives via the phones, and ask the judge what he thinks should be done with the auto-pay payments.
2) Propose to the judge that, going forward, I will pay for half of the property tax and my mother's money will pay for the other half of the property tax.
So, here are my questions:
1) Can the judge punish me for just for asking that my mother's money be used as it has always been used (to pay for property taxes, electricity, gas, and the phones)? Can the judge force me to pay rent under Joint Tenancy with Right of Survivorship?
2) Should my lawyer be more concerned with my mother's interests or with my own interests? Who is her client in this situation?
3) Is my lawyers's idea (asking the judge what he thinks should be done about the auto-pay payments, my offering to pay for half of the property taxes) a good idea?
Thank you for any answers.
This legal situation is in Cook County, Illinois.
From 2008 to 2016, my mother and I lived together in a single-family home, and she was the sole owner of the home. In 2016, she added me to the title, and we became Joint Tenants with Right of Survivorship. So, she basically gifted half of the house to me. We continued to live in the house together.
I have a significant amount of money to my name, but she has a lot more money. So, she always paid the property taxes, the electricity bill, the gas bill, and the land-line bill. And, of course, she always paid the bill for her own personal cell phone.
At some point, a number of years ago, she set up auto-pay for the electricity bill, the gas bill, and both phone bills. That means that, every month, money was automatically debited from her checking account to pay these bills.
In 2018, she began to act strangely. She began to see her deceased relatives (her husband, her parents) in our home. I immediately suspected that she had dementia, but her idiot doctor dismissed her hallucinations as depression or anxiety.
In March 2021, she had a mental episode, and she was hospitalized for 6 days. During these 6 days, she was diagnosed with dementia. Unfortunately, the 6-day hospitalization itself ACCELERATED her dementia. Before the hospitalization, she was mostly able to live in our single-family home and take care of herself. She could prepare her own food and eat the food, get her own medications, walk up and down the stairs, etc. After the hospitalization, she was mostly unable to do those things. In just one week, her life was turned upside down.
Since early April 2021, she has lived in two memory-care facilities. I have continued to live in the home that we own together.
I obtained a probate attorney, and this attorney helped me to obtain guardianship of my mother via the Cook County Circuit Court (Probate Division). I am the guardian of my mother's estate (financial situation) and person (health situation). Basically, I am in charge of her entire life.
As her guardian, I have to submit, to the probate-court judge, a budget for the first year of guardianship. This budget will describe how I intend to spend my mother's money during that first year. According to the law, I can spend her money only on things that benefit her directly.
Remember those bills for electricity, gas, the land-line phone, and the cell phone? The bills that were being paid via automatic withdrawals from my mother's checking account? Well, these withdrawals have been continuing while my mother has been living outside of our home and in those memory-care facilities.
Also, earlier this year, while my mother was still living in our home, she paid the 1st installment of our home's 2020 property tax. (In Cook County, the 2019 property tax is paid in two installments in 2020, the 2020 property tax is paid in two installments in 2021, etc.) Recently, the 2nd installment of the 2020 property tax had to be paid, and I went to the property-tax website and arranged for that 2nd installment to be paid via electronic debit from my mother's checking account.
So far, no budget has yet been submitted to the judge, and the judge has not yet made any rulings on how my mother's money can or can not be used. So, I have allowed the auto-pay payments to continue, and I used my mother's money to pay the 2nd installment of the 2020 property tax. Basically, I have continued the status quo.
When my probate lawyer and I spoke about the budget, the lawyer said that her research has shown that our particular judge is very strict when it comes to making sure that the guardian spends money only on things that directly benefit the ward (the person being taken care of by the guardian). In this case, the ward is my mother.
The lawyer believes that, because my mother no longer lives in our home, my mother is no longer directly benefiting from the property taxes, the electricity, the gas, or the land-line phone. Furthermore, because my mother's personal cell phone is in our home, in my safe custody, and not in her custody at the memory-care facility, my mother is no longer directly benefiting from the cell phone. Therefore, the judge will probably not allow the continued use of my mother's money to pay for these things.
I believe that a legal argument can be made that my mother is indirectly benefiting from the phones. For example, her friends and relatives found out about her plight with dementia and her living in memory care, when they called her on these phones and I answered the phones and I told them what was happening to her. And, from time to time, these people call me on these phones and ask me for updates about her and ask me to pass along messages to her. So, she is indirectly communicating with her friends and relatives via these phones.
[By the way, I do have my own cell phone that I pay for. My mother's cell phone is used only for communicating with her friends and relatives.]
Also, it may be possible to make legal arguments in favor of using my mother's money to pay for electricity, gas, and property taxes.
I told my lawyer that she should ask the judge to maintain the status quo. I said to the lawyer that, even if the judge denies our motion, there is no harm in asking for the status quo, right? The worst that the judge can do is to say "no", correct? Well, the lawyer said that there could be harm in asking. She said that, if the judge is pissed off about my request, the judge can order me to pay monthly rent to my mother's bank accounts.
I would pay rent to my mother when we both own the home under Joint Tenancy with Right of Survivorship? I asked the lawyer whether this rent practice is legal and whether there is any legal precedent for this practice. She said that she doesn't know. She simply assumes that the judge can perpetrate this rent practice just because he is the judge. Also, the lawyer is afraid that, if my request pisses off the judge, then the judge will hold some kind of grudge against the lawyer when she comes before him on behalf of other clients.
It seems that she is too scared of this judge to zealously represent my interests. I see criminal-defense lawyers asking judges for probation for convicted murderers. So, shouldn't my probate lawyer represent me as zealously?
Also, the lawyer said that she wants to do what is best for my mother and what is best for me, in that order. So, obviously, the lawyer feels that the status quo is not what is best for my mother. Well, I thought that the client was always the lawyer's first priority. It seems to me that my lawyer may have some type of conflict of interest here. But, then again, even though my lawyer represents me, her services will be paid for by my mother's assets. That is actually the law here in Cook county. So, is my lawyer supposed to be representing me or my mother?
My lawyer feels that, instead of asking the judge for the status quo, we should do the following:
1) Tell the judge about the auto-pay payments and about my mother's indirect communications with her friends and relatives via the phones, and ask the judge what he thinks should be done with the auto-pay payments.
2) Propose to the judge that, going forward, I will pay for half of the property tax and my mother's money will pay for the other half of the property tax.
So, here are my questions:
1) Can the judge punish me for just for asking that my mother's money be used as it has always been used (to pay for property taxes, electricity, gas, and the phones)? Can the judge force me to pay rent under Joint Tenancy with Right of Survivorship?
2) Should my lawyer be more concerned with my mother's interests or with my own interests? Who is her client in this situation?
3) Is my lawyers's idea (asking the judge what he thinks should be done about the auto-pay payments, my offering to pay for half of the property taxes) a good idea?
Thank you for any answers.
