Loomis, CA Estate Planning Law Firms & Lawyers

You are correct. Your sister with the POA should be able to deposit a check made payable to your mother directly into your mother's account. Many banks will deposit this check without an endorsement. Some require an endorsement. For these your sister's POA should be adequate. There are always some banks and some branches of many banks who get their own ideas about their internal practices. It is possible that your sister has a difficult bank. She can give you the name of the bank and the branch she uses. You can contact them and find out directly the bank's policies. I doubt this will solve your problem. The main problems is your relationship with your sister. I suggest you contact a counselor and work on that relationship. Success there will probably please your mother and other family members much more than your monthly support.

If the house is in the trust, you are not a joint tenant, and the provisions of the declaration of trust determine who gets the house when the second parent dies. I think you have to get the facts straight before I can give you advice.

If your aunt knew that your father had a child, then she may have perjured herself making the affidavit of claiming successor. Get a lawyer to review the affidavit and the facts and consider suing her (assuming she still has assets you can reach if you get a judgment).