What a mess!

I am a real estate practitioner in Texas, not a lawyer.

Nothing I say is to be construed as legal advice.

Don't know how to do it, not licensed to do it, wouldn't want to do it.

You might think about your next option if she won't sign the agreement.

It might be cheaper and quicker to pay her to move.

if you cannot get her out of there before the closing, consult a lawyer:

if she is not out before Buyers sign papers, then you might have a legal problem with the buyers .

I wish you the best.

You need a lawyer ASAP. Without charging her rent and allowing her to stay after your mother went to care your father has opened a can of worms. There are other things beyond tenants rights that might be in play here but only an attorney that does this type of law can advise you.

Your attorney may or may not ask this of you but she may have been evicted from her previous residence as a squatter which is much worse than being a tenant in some states. To prepare for this question you might want to ask the pastor if he knows where she had lived previously. If you must go the eviction route part of the agreement may be to not disclose why she was evicted. Ask your pastor now if he/she knows why the woman was needing a home.

Thanks for the advice. I'll talk to my Dad about it tomorrow. Luckily my sis and BIL are lawyers, but they are on vacation off the grid right now. They'll be back in a couple of days and can probably be of help.

Sylvia, my Dad is going to make an offer to her to pay for her move and offer a one-time stipend to her after she has moved. He is hoping this will give her incentive to sign the agreement.

Ask your father not to mention the agreement until your sis and BIL have at looked at a prepared agreement. They should also have access and know where to look to see if there are any previous court cases with her name. Also do not discuss with your father if she is in the house.

Thanks. I'm searching the local county court records right now.

I do not think that what is available in Texas that is state wide is available to the general public. Here you type in courts.mo.gov. It does not cover all courts but it does help find information about people who you may be wanting to hire for some project around the house. There is now https or anything normal that you would enter. For Texas I would change the mo to tx.

Before I retired I had access to other systems but that ended when I retired.

I actually have the entire Texas Property Code on my computer. I don't like going through a filtered source. I like reading the law straight and naked for myself.

I just texted with my DS and BIL and they are going to step in and help when they get back from vacation, but told me what to do tomorrow.

I really apppreciate all the advice here. Basically my Dad is a sweet, compansionate man who needed a little help, but was mostly being really nice helping out this woman who had no where to go. He's no dummy. He has a PhD and is a mathematician, engineer, etc. But he's older now, and he has always been sweet and generous, so that is what led to this situation.

Thanks for all the advice. I will update later in case our situation and resolution helps others.

OMG, I'm so nervous. I hate confrontation. We are serving notice to the squatter today. DH is coming with me. I read the whole state law and my lawyer BIL sent me drafts of what we need to type up. I talked to the clerk at our local justice court and she said on day 31 we can call the Sheriff to remove her.

(Note: I didn't know til today that he gave her the original May 1st deadline back in January!! But nothing is real til it is in writing and signed!)

This is what I am going to say:

"My Dad is selling this house and moving. You are being evicted. There are 2 ways to handle it:

1) You agree today, and sign this agreement that you will move out by next Friday June 28th by 4 pm. This time period, plus the almost 5 months of notice you have already had, give you ample time to pack and move. On Friday at 4 pm, if you have not moved, we will call the Sheriff's office and have a deputy forceably remove you for trespassing. If you agree to this, my dad will pay you a one-time $300 cash stipend after you have moved out.

- or -

2) We serve a notice to vacate to you today, which is a 30-day deadline to move, and you do not get a stipend. On day 31, if you have not moved, we will call the Sheriff's office and have a deputy forceably remove you for trespassing.

Choose."

(Note: the law says you have to give 30 days notice, but there's an exception -- if both parties sign an agreement to a different date, the 30 day rule does not apply. So we are going to try to encourage her to agree to the shorter deadline.)

Please wait until you have your family members look over the document. If you know enough to use to use the Texas Property Code and use it frequently you have probably seen problems with documents that are not legally worded.

Second hand information but my roommate was the head paralegal at a large law firm. While she handled the difficult, very very rich neurotic clients, some of the reading material that she brought home made dealing with squatters sound like a nightmare.

Oh boy. Wait, wait, wait.

If I understand this correctly, your dad has had someone living in the home, doing work, without paying her?

Though I am no expert, what you don't want to do is inspire her to go get an attorney.

This doesn't sound like a squatter at all, to me. This sounds like your dad hasn't been paying for work, as in minimum wage. You can't have someone working for you and not paying them at least minimum wage, reporting the income, all the IRS legalese, W-2 employee, etc. Has he been paying employment taxes on her? Was his insurance aware that he had a helper living in the home? No? Well. You see, this is a can of worms.

What you don't want is this woman going to legal aid and trying to assert her rights. I would not do a thing without seeing an attorney, and furthermore, trying to get her out softly, perhaps with the pastor's help, and not going the full legal route.

She doesn't sound very capable, and maybe she just needs help finding a place to live.

The Pastor is working on finding her a new situtaion and is providing counseling to her. Turns out BIL is available to talk to her this afternoon. He's going to handle it, but we are going to be over there and listen on a speaker phone so that we are aware of what is discussed. My Dad has been providing free rent and she does light house work about 3 days a week. It's all very informal and verbal. I'm glad BIL is going to step in. He's a good communicator and negotiator.

I am glad your BIL stepped in. The next family she lives with will have the same problem if they need her to move out. The pastor means well as he did when he talked your Dad into giving her a place to live but this is probably not the first time that she was given a place to live and did not move out until forced.

Mrs. S did bring up something I thought about last night and you may need a tax attorney to solve it. FYI, bartering which is what this sounds like, has special rules.

I would suggest that you also involve the pastor. She may respond to him.

Otherwise, plan B works. Everything must be in writing. Keep records of all conversations. Take contemporaneous notes. Let the lawyers in the family handle it. Offering cash may make the difference.

Most people don't think you are prepared to call the Sheriff. Be prepared to change the locks. Get anything of value locked away or out of there before you lower the hammer. Don't let your dad be alone with her from this point forward. Desperate people do desperate things.

First of all, the woman is not a squatter. Once considered a temporary guest, the minute you asked her to leave and she didn’t, she became a trespasser and I suggest you do not need to hire an attorney now.

She was recommended to you by your Pastor. It was a win/win situation at the time and now the time is over. The buck stops with the Pastor. Tell him, thank you, but we no longer need her assistance. Please come to the house and help her pack up her things and find her other options. If he isn’t up to doing God’s work, find another church. (IMO, he was reckless to recommend this woman in the first place…how well did he know her?).

Then call your local authorities, and tell them there is a trespasser in your Dad’s home and you are concerned for his safety (as well you should be) and want her removed from the premises. The authorities should run her name through the system. This gal has been up to a lot of stuff before this episode.

I am so onboard with all the advice homechef gave you.

JudyG each state has different definitions of what a squatter is. The local police filled my neighbor in on the difficulty of getting a squatter out and what some courts considered a squatter vs. a resident. Here if you invite a person into your house and they use your address for mail they are considered a resident and not a temporary guest or a squatter. The way you invite someone also makes a difference. If you say consider this your home one set of laws handle it. If you say come for a week and the week drags on it is another set of laws. From what the police told my neighbor with me standing beside her if it went to a court HERE not in Texas where this is happening it could be years before she legally was made to leave. I am hoping this was just a misunderstanding and the father told the woman something like "just take your time until you find something" after she agreed to leave.

This and the sale of the property are two different things and should remain separate so that anyone wanting to comment can comment about the subject of the OP and not confuse the issues by posting a comment on one then the answer extended comment on the other.

Your wording is incorrect (landlord 15 years + atty). It is only an eviction if you have to go through the legal process. Do NOT use inflammatory words like "You are being evicted". You want cooperation, not a dumpster fire. You don't want to have to do this. Just go tell her straight up that she needs to get out by X date because the house is being sold, or you will have to file for an eviction, meaning there will be a court date, SHE will pay expenses (that's how it is here), it will go on her record (meaning creditors and future landlords will find it, hindering her ability to get another place), and the sheriff will physically remove her and her things and sit them at the curb, at her expense. She does NOT want to go through, this and you don't either, so you are sure she understands "as a reasonable person" that she needs to leave on X date. Be kind but firm. She's a tenant under the law almost everywhere. She gets mail there, right? Don't refer to her as a squatter. She moved in with permission. She is just overstaying her permission. She is a tenant. Some landlords revert to cash for keys because it is cheaper than an eviction. Might offer her a quick $250 if she is out by X date. I don't know. You will have to read that situation.

If she shows any resistance (and likely even if she doesn't, though you might give it a week), file immediately. You can always terminate the case if she gets out. If she is older, is there some chance she could have dementia or some issue? Surely your dad knows of any children she has, so he/you can contact them and tell them Mom needs help moving because the house is being sold. You are going to have to be proactive.

Your agreement will be pretty meaningless if she doesn't want to go, except as additional evidence that she agreed to move out when you go to court for the eviction. It's not really necessary, but you can try. I doubt she signs anything.

I cannot imagine any scenario in which she is not a tenant at this point. You cannot treat her as a trespasser. You CANNOT change the locks with her in residence (unless you are in Texas, where I believe that self-help eviction is legal, but not sure - check your laws!). Do not do this. Do remove your valuables though.

midcentury they are in Texas.

Had a "meeting" today. Still a work in progress. Will update when there is more news. My Dad was already dealing with a difficult transition, moving my Mom to a care facility and preparing to sell his family home. This stress is making my Dad's transition so much more difficult.

Thanks for all the input.

I thought the woman had already moved out months ago!. I had no idea she was still there til the day I posted my first "selling the house" thread (my other thread)! The reason I didn't know is (in addition to my Dad not telling me) because, even though someone from the family used to stop by almost every day to their main home, after my Mom moved, we met over there a lot. My Mom moved to the care facility in January, and the woman had a verbal March 15 move-out agreement. We went on Spring Break vacation in March. In April and going forward, I mostly visited my Mom at her new care facility, and a lot of time I'd meet my Dad there and we'd go to lunch afterwards; he'd go home for a few hours and then go back and visit Mom; then return home and go to bed. I wasn't going to his house as much as before. Occaisionally I'd stop by my Dad's house, and a lot of times we would invite him over for dinner to our house. When I met the realor at his house the other day, I heard water running upstairs and was alarmed and asked "Is someone here?" It was her! I thought she had moved out months before and he never mentioned she hadn't! He told me he changed the agreement to May 1st. But it was all verbal. But now I realize he's been trying to be nice and gentlemanly all this time, but it's been 6 months since he asked her to move out. This man is a PhD mathmetician and engineer, but he's older now, and he might be embarrased to tell the family that he hasn't been able to handle this situation. I'm just glad I know the situation now and we will handle it. I'm mad at the Pastor for getting my Dad into this situtaion and then not helping to get him out of it. Believe me, I've been extremely straight forward in addressing the Pastor on this subject. This is turning into a REAL learning experience. I'm going to keep posting until this is resolved because it might help someone else down the line who faces a similar situation. And if there are any Pastors reading this...don't put your well-meaning congregants in a situtaiton like this.

I'll share my story from 1997. My parents were elderly, and my dad passed away. Were 1,200 miles away (Minneapolis - Philadelphia). The had moved to a town home complex. My mother had vision problems. The 'nice' older lady who lived next door, offered to look after my mother. My mom thought this was a fine idea. Everything was jointly in our names. I took the check book and credit cards (she received a pension and SS so she had cash), and of course I could send her money.

In 2000 my mother became gravely ill. We went back to Philadelphia. When I arrived, the 'nice' older lady handed me a stack of credit card bills. She quickly said "your mother said I could charge these". I realized the credit cards had expired, and the bank sent new ones - and she used them. What she did was pay the minimum balance - there were almost $20,000 in charges.

I immediately went to the lawyer. He said "Is you mom still alive"? I said yes. He had me transfer all our joint holdings to my name. I asked should I call the police (forgery??) - he said "No" - now get this: "A credit card is an unsecured loan". Your mother has no assets. Just send the bank a copy of her death certificate!

Doug's story is why I like joint accounts if the joint person is trustworthy. Just a warning that if there were any charges on the account for his mother that he had attempted to pay them in most states he would have been liable for the whole debt.

Last night I wrote then deleted a comment about the person holding the POA needs to look over the bank and other accounts. The father may have had the woman fill in checks and sign them. He may have also told her to purchase things that she needed. I would expect that the grocery bills would be higher both because there were two people and perhaps she was attempting to encourage him to eat. That is fine unless like Doug's woman she took advantage. If she did changes should be made in access but I am not certain that doing anything other than forgetting any of those things would not cause a bigger mess.

Doug's story is also a reminder to either have bills sent to you or set it up to be notified when bills are due so you can go on line and look at them if you are caring for a person and have been granted written permission. In 2000 many bills are not online but the biggest majority are.

In Texas, you must go before a Justice of the Peace in order to get an eviction & set-out order to remove someone, *after*you have done the preliminary work for eviction.

You cannot change the locks or otherwise deprive the resident of access to the home without going through the Justice of the Peace.

If your father has not done so already, I suggest he immediately remove all of his small valuables and put them in a safe at his new place. Take photos of them.

Also it's useful to take photos of anything to be sold that will be stored at a relative's house. It prevents confusion later on who has what for what reason if your father and his children have copies of the photos and written inventory.

My goodness…am I to understand that no one should provide an opinion to the OP unless they have passed the bar in Texas?

Where is the Pastor in all this mess?

I think that statement about the OP being in Texas is in reference to midcentury's comment: " I cannot imagine any scenario in which she is not a tenant at this
point. You cannot treat her as a trespasser. You CANNOT change the
locks with her in residence (unless you are in Texas, where I believe
that self-help eviction is legal, but not sure - check your laws!). Do
not do this. Do remove your valuables though."

Any updates?

That's a great news!

That's really good to hear. Good job.

AJCN, glad it all worked out for your Dad and the rest of you. I really hope that you will be having a talk with that Pastor ...

This is good news; thanks for letting us know. I might say that this story has been a bit of a caution-lesson for us older folks. I had caretakers for my husband and can well understand how they can insinuate themselves into your life IF you're not careful.