I live in Canada. My mother is quite ill and owns a home. She is getting advice from people that she should put someone else's name on the deed of the house along with hers. They are telling her that if she does not do this,and she passes away, the gov't will take half of what the house is worth.
Also they are telling her because it is a rental property she must do this... when in fact her grandson lives there rent free
Please help!! I do not want to see my Mother taken for a ride.

Someone in your family has to have the Power of Attorney to monitor her affairs and make appropriate decisions for her. If she has an attorney, then you have to ask him to give you or someone responsible, Power of Attorney.

Does she have a Will, A Living Will, someone she trust to make decisions??

As far as I know Canada does not have an estate tax. So I don't see how the govt will take half the worth. Even if there was an estate tax, adding a name to the deed may not get around it.

I suggest your mother see an estate planner to see the best way to handle her estate.

My Mother is still of sound mine and makes her own decisions. However, she is being told by my sister that if she doesn't put someone's else's name on her house. It will go into probate. Also she is telling her to put someone else's name on her bank accounts as well or they will be frozen.
She does have a will made out and I am trying to tell my Mother that as long as she has a will, her estate will be handled properly.
As for power of attorney, She is not telling us if she has one or who it is... my Mother is now being very private about things and she did confide to a friend of mine that she feels someone is trying to rip her off. This makes me so very sad, she knows it's not me because I have told her if she is really concerned and worried about all of this that maybe she should judt leave everything to charity... Because of my sister and her husband's interference she is not trusting anyone these days...

While it may be a good idea in some cases to transfer assets to joint survivorship to avoid probate, there may be other tax and legal consequences. Unless the estate is very large, probate should be fairly simple. The funds will only be frozen until an executor is recognized or assigned by the probate court. Then that person will have access to them.

It is common to put names on bank accounts and property, and it will keep some property from going though probate.
But also cause gift tax issues for the ones given the new accounts and property.

My mom did this to pass her estate without use of probate for most of everything, but it needs to be done though an attorney who is good at estate planning.