father died June 2010, his wife died 10 days later. 2nd marriage for both and 1st spouses deceased. Wife's daughter had POA while they were ...

Question

father died June 2010, his wife died 10 days later. 2nd marriage for both and 1st spouses deceased. Wife's daughter had POA while they were in nursing home. Father's will and trust named his son executor of trust. Was told no money in trust. Just found out father's annuity cashed Feb. 2011 and deposited in new account with wife as primary, father and her daughter co-signers. Daughter acting like she is executor. There are unpaid bills for nursing home & funeral & tax liability. Who is responsible & does she have a right to file on his behalf.

Answer

You need to see an attorney. First, did father's will and trust have a survivorship requirement longer than the 10 days? If so, then his trust/will assets would pass to the conitngent beneficiary.

The trust and an annuity are 2 different things. Usually, an annuity is a beneficiary designated asset that would not pass as per your father's trust unless the trust itself was the designated beneficiary. If the wife was the beneficiary of the annuity, then the proceeds of the annuity would be paid to the estate of the wife and is not to be used for the father's medical, funeral and tax expenses.

The power of attorney for the wife ended at her death and the wife's estate would be administered as per the wife's will and/or trust.

Your post makes no sense about wife, father and daughter being "co-signers." Co-signers of what? And if father died in 2010, how can he be a co-signer?

Who is she? The wife's daughter? What has she filed? On whose behalf?

There aer too many unanswered questions. You, if you are the trustee of father's trust, will have to seek out a probate and trust attorney, preferably one who does litigation should it be necessary. The attorney will have to review the father's will and trust as well as the annuity and information pertaining to the wife's will and/or trust to determine what assets passed to whom.

The father's estate (whether it's probate or trust) is liable for father's expenses. If father was so foolish as to create a trust with no money and make his wife the beneficiary of his annuity, then father's estate is not goinmg to be entitled to the annuity proceeds. However, if the father's trust was the beneficiary, then I don't see how the wife's daughter was able to cash the annuity. In such case, if it is determined that the daughter's possession of the proceeds was wrongful, you would need to bring an action on behalf of your father's trust against the daughter and anyone else that received these proceeds.

However, all of this is premature speculation until the trust and relevant documents are reviewed by an attorney.