Q. I am the trustee of my parents’ trust. They have now both passed away. My brother helped perform minimal long distance caregiving for them over the last five years, and he spent about a year and a half towards the end as a
live-in caregiver in their home in Virginia Beach.
I was taken aback when, after the funeral for my father, my brother sent me a huge bill for his caregiving services. He said that the bill was based on a verbal agreement he had with my parents before they died that they meant to put in the estate planning documents, but never got around to
doing. He also said that our parents told him that he could remain in the house for the next three years, until his son graduates from the high school that he started when he and his family moved in with our parents.
My brother sending me a bill to be paid by the estate was the first I heard of any agreement that my parents would compensate
him for his caregiving services. The whole time I thought he was doing this out of the goodness of his heart. Does the estate have an obligation to my brother in this situation, since this alleged caregiving agreement was never put in writing? I want to do the right thing, but I don’t know what that is. We also have a sister who doesn’t want to get involved in this squabble, and I’m worried that if I do pay my brother for his caregiving services, then my sister could come back and claim I did
the wrong thing. Please help!
