Question about gift before death

[Moon]

My mother has recently passed away and she apparently gifted her car to my brother 6 weeks before she died. She had cancer and was on morphine and it is not clear if the cancer was in her brain or not. I do not think she can have fully understood what she was doing and if she had wanted to give anything to my brother she could have done it in a will. However I know she owes money and has left no provision for funeral and the car was her only asset. My questions are

1. Can you give an asset away when you owe money.

2. I know a gift can be given at anytime and that ill people do give gifts but would I be able to challenging the way it was done and that I don't feel my mother could of fully understand what she was doing.

3. Do relatives have to pay for funeral if there is no money in the estate.

4. I suspect fraud is there anything i can do

5. Plus my brother has copy of death certificate and I know the solicitor has a will. Will the solicitor deal with me before he sees the death certificate, I need to take action fast my brother is trying to sell car and I want to stop it happening before the will can be seen (I think my brother will delay going to solicitors with death cert because he knows he is not in the will)

Any help much appreciated

 

[emeralds]

How much can the car have been worth?
Yes, relatives would have to pay for the funeral (who would pay otherwise?)..You should be able to contact the General Registry Office and get a copy of the death cert yourself. Who is the executor do you know?

 

[beffers]

My condolences.

The solicitor will deal primarily with whomever is the Executor of the Will. You need to get them involved asap if you expect that there was fraudulent activity going on regarding your mothers assets before she died. However, if all she did was give her car to her son, you may have a hard time coming up with a case unless you can prove that he put undue pressure on her given her medical condition at the time.

 

[Padraigb]

... Yes, relatives would have to pay for the funeral (who would pay otherwise?)....

The funeral expenses should, if possible, be paid out of the estate.

If the estate is unable to pay, then it becomes a problem for the person or persons who made the arrangements with the undertaker. And then you are into family relationships ....