My uncle signed the deed to his house over to his caretakers

[Erin Cowan]

My uncle passed away on August 1 and it's come to light that he had a new will written under the guidance of his caretaker making him the trustee and heir to my uncle's estate.  On December 28 of last year there is also a deed recorded transferring sole ownership of my uncle's home (willed to him by my grandparents) to the caretakers.  All of this occurred while my uncle was in the hospital with leukemia, and the details were not shared with any of his family.  When my mother would talk to him about the issues she perceived with the caretakers he would not be forthcoming and say instead he didn't want to worry her.  We are not sure of the details that led to the caretakers accomplishing all this, but we do know the caretaker has filed probate in Santa Barbara and notified his next of kin (including NONE of my uncle's actual family) of his possession of a will.  We are afraid the caretaker is going to sell my grandparent's home (a 2 million dollar property in Montecito) quickly to further complicate things.  We are also having trouble finding a lawyer who wants to take this case (I'm not sure why, it seems pretty clear some fraud took place here), and we can't cloud title with a Lis Pendens until we have filed a case....  Any thoughts?

[Rick H.]

Welcome to the BP forum community. I gather you only wish free help and unlikely a contributor.

Caretaker is usually a term for someone who responsible for property and grounds keeping duties while caretaker is a term associated with the care of a person. Suggest you be clear when speaking to your attorney.

I do a lot of litigation cases and work primarily within the legal and government communities. Elder abuse is prevalent, sadly often difficult to prove and slow and expensive to litigate. 

Do not sell legal advice on these forums. You will get a crapload of empathic if not pithy but bad advice from others if you are not careful.

Most local jurisdictions have adult protective services and advocates. Since your matter is posthumous it would become a civil case heard in superior court. You would need an attorney experienced with litigating such cases in probate court.

The big expense, after you've ponied up the initial retainer, will be discovery and endless interrogations. Few of these cases make it to trial.

In the end, excluded heirs and beneficiaries must proved that undue influence was used, forensically prove the decedent was incompetent (very difficult) and/or criminal acts of fraud perpetrated on the decedent. 

I hope that you were close to your uncle and can show how your caring actions were involved in protecting uncle during his lifetime at the right time attempting to counter the actions of the settlor's "appointed" trustee and then show how they breached their fiduciary duties.  Good luck and hope it work out well.