We have a rather difficult situation and are getting conflicting information from different lawyers and law enforcement officials.
My 45 year old brother has been living with my mother for the better part of the last 15 years. He has been doing drugs ("sniff a line now and then" in his terms) since high school and will go out in the heat of the Houston summer (typically in the mid-to-upper 90's with high humidity) and sit in a closed garage with his buddy, then come in with red, unfocussed eyes and strange ramblings. In the past 5 years he has begun insisting that God is talking to him and teaching him hidden truths and different ancient languages through a special book he found in the garage (an old dictionary), that people on the TV hear his thoughts and report what he tells them, that my deceased father now lives in him and made him the overseer of Mom and all she possesses. (I should mention that Dad and youngest brother fought ceaselessly about brother's thievery and shiftless life). Youngest brother has not had any kind of stable job, and although he is capable of tile and carpentry work, does not complete jobs or display dependability in employment.
In that last 6 years since Dad has died, he has sold all of Dad's tools all yard equipment (except the mower, although he doesn't use it), and various other items in the house. Mom reached the point where she was hiding her purse in the bottom of the hamper and the rake in her closet. He has had three major auto accidents, wrecked Mom's car, then sold the replacement car we bought her. He now claims to have back problems and fibromyalgia, yet will not seek standard medical treatment (fear of a blook test, maybe?). Mom used what little money she had from Dad's retirement to pay of brother's truck and multiple tickets, fines, and bail him out of jail (he has more now), and pays all bills and car insurance. Still, we found that brother has forged her name on over $5000 worth of checks since around November. Whenever Mom tries to raise an issue with him, he screams, yells, threatens suicide, then stomps off to his upstairs room and pounds holes in the wall.
We have noticed Mom's memory and cognitive functioning declining since Dad's death and especially in the last few years. As her reasoning declines, youngest brother took more and more from the house and banking account while claiming he was taking care of her. Yet Mom feared that evicting him would cause him to commit suicide.
After an MRI last fall, the neurologist said the results were "consistent with Alzheimers." Then about 4 weeks ago she had a stroke in the pons area of her brain, and is now in a skilled nursing facility. Youngest brother can see the writing on the wall and has been campaigning to bring her back to the house because he can and has been taking care of her and can change her, move her, and provide her physical and cognitive therapy. He has begun trying to clean up the upstairs and repair the holes in the sheetrock. He has tried to make his case to our mother, and was so upsetting to her at the original hospital that they kicked him out an filed a restraining order against him. The SNF currently has no restrictions on his visits.
Oldest brother has power of attorney (signed by Mom in her lawyer's office soon after Dad passed away). I am joint on Mom's bank account and have been for about 10 years. I have froxen that account and transferred the money to a second account in eldest brother and my name to pay Mom's bills. My name is on the title to Mom's car, but still the car disappeared a day ago. The house is on a reverse mortgage and will have to be sold if it is determined Mom cannot go home, but at this time we are hoping she can return with appropriate in-home support (not youngest brother). Cognitively, however, she is lost, often not knowing where or even who she is, or who we are.
How do we get him out of the house? Eldest brother has filed forgery charges and has filed papers with law enforcement to have youngest picked up for a psych eval ("as soon as a bed opens up" they say... nothing has happened in the three weeks since). Eldest has also filed an eviction notice, but the fear is that youngest brother will sell or destroy everything in the house before it is finalized (it's been 5 days and papers are yet to be served). Youngest brother refuses to answer the phone or let anyone enter the house, and claims that he has the right to stay there. Lawyers and some law enforcement have said we could remove the contents to protect them, but the local police said we could not, and that if youngest brother ordered us off the property and we refused, that we could be arrested. Youngest brother does currently have at least one bench warrant out for him for some sort of traffic violation and failure to appear in court.
So what do we do now? Can anyone recommend someone in the Houston area we can talk to? None of us have much money, and Mom has only SS and the money from the reverse mortgage (which must be paid back when she passes or permanently moves out), and we are trying to keep that for her extended care. Any other recommendations as to how to proceed?
