He required professsional daily care and moved from the home in 10/13. I continued paying the homeowner association fees as I was his sole heir and trustee of his revocable trust. Following his death, the director of the association (a paid employee) told me I was responsible for the monthly dues until HUD took sole possession of the property I had immediately told HUD we wanted to "walk away" and provided them with all requested information. They have yet to take possession. The lender did not acknowledge any obligation to pay the dues. I was never an owner of the home, nor listed on any deed paperwork. In addition to the $210 monthly dues, I paid a $300 special assessment last year. Initially told I would not have to pay that, I received a letter requiring I do so. Have I been liable for these charges as trustee of the estate, or am I entitled to stop paying? I have not been able to vote on association business as I am not an owner in residence. If not liable, and the association will not voluntarily refund my payments would you recommend civil action on my part?
What’s the hold up?
Is there a title issue?
Or is HOA foot dragging in some way?
I’m wondering if HOA is the problem, I mention this as I was executor for an aunt who bought six-figure CCRC & died couple of months after moving into her “CCRC garden home”, well it was quite illuminating as basically CCRC was totally in charge of when property could even be put onto market, who could stay at it till sold (nobody), but also in determining who was suitable as a buyer, yet every mo. a management fee was due, & it took probate atty strongly worded letters to get CCRC to finally find acceptable buyer and partial refund of $ fronted. A CCRC is different than a HOA but both can have overarching type of management. If your paying $210 a mo plus whatever assessments set (let’s hope for your sake it’s not big major improvement$ planned for this year) maybe HOA could care less if it ever gets sold, or in having potential buyers come into their gated or “special” community.
Do you have the original deed on the sale dad did? Whose name is on it? his name or the trust? If it’s his name, then anything owed after he died April, 2017 is a debt of his & his estate. It’s not the trusts debt as the trust is its own legal entity. In theory his estate has that house as an asset but if it’s like most RM’d properties, there’s not going to be any $ back to dads estate to become an asset from the eventual sale as the RM has all sorts of heavy interest & fees. If there’s a difference HUD pays the difference too.
I’d bet that HOA board knows this and know if they can’t get you to pay they aren’t getting anything paid by RM/HUD. They would need to place a lien on a HUD owned property, & yeah good luck to HOA on that......
I’d suggest you ask the atty who did the trust to go over trusts terms ASAP. I’d bet that the trust isn’t at all responsible for any dads personal debts. If your the successor trustee, then you distribute to the beneficiaries according to trusts terms. If your the only beneficiary, then it’s your $ and you might want to think if you want to leave it in a Trust. Dads debts aren’t yours, you can opt to pay them but not required to. HOA isn't likely to ever repay you, as their gonna say you “chose” to pay.
I, too, am wondering why the note for the Reverse Mortgage hadn't been called in. Usually if a love one moves to a continuing care facility, the Mortgage loan becomes due and payment one year and one day after being placed in a facility. It's my understanding that your Dad moved to such a facility in 2013? Correct me if I am wrong. Then again, it depends on the Reverse Mortgage note, what it says.
Thus surprised that in November 2014, that the note, along with interest, and fees, wasn't called in. Has the house/townhome/condo been empty since 2013?
I would think that you being the sole heir and Trustee of the Revocable Trust, that the house became yours on the day of your Dad's passing. But apparently no new Deed was drawn up and recorded.
I would highly recommend you talk with an Elder Law Attorney to see what he/she would recommend.
somehow I’m thinking that RMs cannot be easily done on a house that is owned by a Trust. Trust is it’s own legal entity and it would need to be in someway approved by HUD or their service provider before RM done. Have no idea how complicated that might be but I’d bet a case of Prosecco that the trustee must be only the property owner and HUD has precise wording as to succession upon death of trustee. So if I’m right then the OP/ gotcha can’t be the trustee if the RM was on the house held in a Trust. The paperwork is flawed.
The timeline on RM and Trust and if Trust includes or excludes the house, will be critical to getting through all this.
Gotcha, really you need to get with an atty to figure out responsibility & if you have any exposure in all this. I’d contact the law firm that did the Trust initially as they will have all notes related to trust and will have real estate atty they consult with.