Reverse Mortgage Conservatorship

Hello Ruth,

I am not an attorney and therefore not allowed to give legal advice.  I would strongly recommend that you obtain competent legal representation as this sounds extremely unusual to me.  As a lender, I can tell you that we cannot put a reverse mortgage loan on two parcels, especially one that has another individual’s name on it other than our borrowers.  I would find it extremely unlikely that a lender would cross-collateralize more than one parcel with a reverse mortgage and especially so if the second parcel had a different individual’s name on it as that would create a cloud on title.  Talk to an attorney and let him/her tell you for sure.

Good Afternoon,

Unfortunately that is one of the areas that we  do run into more than we would like to.  HUD cannot afford to have the mortgage challenged by family members years later saying that the borrower was not competent to sign the power of attorney and therefore the loan should be ruled invalid and that is why their rules for the use of powers of attorney and with incapacitated borrowers are what they are.  As you yourself just stated, you didn’t get the Power of Attorney until AFTER your wife was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease and therefore, the Power of Attorney itself may be subject to challenge as to its validity if any family members were so inclined at any time in the future.

Have you looked into the conservatorship?  I know it is more time consuming and will cost some money to complete but it is an option and probably the best one at this time.  Your attorney can tell you how the process would work and probably handle the entire procedure for you if this is what you feel is best.  And I know it is late to say this now in your case, but this is why I personally have told all family members to be sure to have not only a will but trusts and POA’s completed long before you ever think you will need one.  As you are now finding out, if you wait until after a diagnosis of illness or an accident that impairs the mental capacity, then the POA may not be accepted as valid since there is no way to ascertain whether or not the individual actually had the capacity to know the full implication of the document they were signing at the time, thereby making it invalid.