Port Neches, TX Estate Planning Law Firms & Lawyers

A power of attorney can be signed during any period of lucidity. If a person has Alzheimer's, she may have good days (when she can sign legal docs) and bad days (where she would lack competency to sign.)

For a will to have effect on real property ownership in Texas, the will must be presented to a Texas probate court and probated in some fashion. No one is required to probate a will. If you have an original will to probate, you can offer it within 4 years of the death of your grandfather. After 4 years it might be admitted as a muniment of title, but formal administration is not an option. If your mother was your grandfather's only heir (heirs are determined by law , beneficiaries are designated in a will) and no will was presented for probate, full title of the property would pass to your mother. Your mother's interest in the property could have transfered in full to your father at her death. If you and your siblings want to sell the property, I'd make sure you have some ownership in it first.

Generally no, the family is not responsible, but assets remaining in father's estate might be, depending on value. The question discusses death benefit as if that is the only asset. If that is the case, the death benefit is not an asset of his estate and may not be assessable for payment of the father's debts. Also, if mother/wife or children signed any documents agreeing to be responsible for father's debts, then it would be those agreements, not the law, that would make them responsible.