Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

I am about to record a transfer grant deed (California) which conveyed title from my mother as trustee to myself as her successor trustee and my wife (joint tenant). I have already recorded an Affidavit of Incapacity of Trustee and Substitution (Change) of Trustee as Mother is incapacitated from dementia. So I need some help filling out the Grant Deed. Who is the Current Owner now? I'm assuming it's still Mother's Name, Trustee , Name of the Trust? If that is the case, I plan to sign the deed in my capacity as her attorney in fact. Is this Okay and is this how it works?


Asked on 12/14/15, 8:22 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

There are so many things incorrect or potentially incorrect in what you are doing that I'm not sure where to start. You need to take the trust, your power of attorney, and most recent deed to an estate planning attorney and spend a few hundred dollars making sure this can be done and if so how to do it correctly. The problem is your mother's incapacity which voids your power of attorney unless it is a durable power of attorney, but then you also come up against the prohibition of self dealing under a power of attorney. As I said, there may be a way to do this, but not one you can get explained to you in an internet Q&A.

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Answered on 12/14/15, 8:39 am


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