I was robbed by my brother

[anon12345678]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Texas

5(?) years ago, I owned a home..

I was out of the country collecting my inheritance from my deceased father. He died in an elevator accident in 1985 and my mother sued the elevator company. When my brothers and I would turn 18 we would receive our share. My mother asked me to wire the money back to Texas so that we could lock it into a house that was for sale in our neighborhood. She wanted all of us to buy houses with our money, that way we would not spend it as most 18 year olds would.

Since I was not present at the time of signing, we sent my older brother to get the house. His name and my name were on the title because of this but we had an understanding that the home was in actuality mine. He already had his home purchased and had collected his inheritance.


Time passed. I was living in the house with my wife and my child but had to sell it due to financial difficulties. When I sold the house the title company made out two checks, one small check in my name(to help me move) and one larger check in both of our names(my brother and I). I could not cash the larger check because I needed him present so I stashed it at my mother's apartment. On the day I was going to make the drive to find my brother I discovered that the check was missing and asked my mother. She told me my brother had stopped by and said that he was going to cash the check for me so that I could fix my son's eye(he has strabismus) and so I could have the money... After this I ended up homeless and injured and am just now getting my life back together. My son and I are once again spending time together and things are slowly healing.

I still have not received a dime from my brother. My mother passed away but she left a signed and notarized statement of where the money came from, what it was supposed to be for, how my brother ended up on the title and how he went against our family agreement.

Is there anything I can do or did he truly legally rob me?

 

[nextwife]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Texas

5(?) years ago, I owned a home..

I was out of the country collecting my inheritance from my deceased father. He died in an elevator accident in 1985 and my mother sued the elevator company. When my brothers and I would turn 18 we would receive our share. My mother asked me to wire the money back to Texas so that we could lock it into a house that was for sale in our neighborhood. She wanted all of us to buy houses with our money, that way we would not spend it as most 18 year olds would.

Since I was not present at the time of signing, we sent my older brother to get the house. His name and my name were on the title because of this but we had an understanding that the home was in actuality mine. He already had his home purchased and had collected his inheritance.


Time passed. I was living in the house with my wife and my child but had to sell it due to financial difficulties. When I sold the house the title company made out two checks, one small check in my name(to help me move) and one larger check in both of our names(my brother and I). I could not cash the larger check because I needed him present so I stashed it at my mother's apartment. On the day I was going to make the drive to find my brother I discovered that the check was missing and asked my mother. She told me my brother had stopped by and said that he was going to cash the check for me so that I could fix my son's eye(he has strabismus) and so I could have the money... After this I ended up homeless and injured and am just now getting my life back together. My son and I are once again spending time together and things are slowly healing.

I still have not received a dime from my brother. My mother passed away but she left a signed and notarized statement of where the money came from, what it was supposed to be for, how my brother ended up on the title and how he went against our family agreement.

Is there anything I can do or did he truly legally rob me?

BTW: You NEVER needed brother's name on the title to buy it. What attorney advised you to do it this way?
Why did you not immediately contact the closing agenmt to stop payment on the check?

 

[anon12345678]

Why did you not immediately contact the closing agenmt to stop payment on the check?

Because I trusted my brother, my mother did as well. He told me that he had(somehow??) cashed it and when I initially asked for the money he told me that he had put it into some type of savings account and that there would be a penalty if it were wirthdrawn before a certain date, so we waited. After that date I asked him again and he told me that we had missed the window but that when he sold one of his other houses he would pay me back.. so I continued to wait. After some time he stopped answering my mother's phone calls and would ignore all of our attempts to contact him.

Eventually I got an email from him saying "It may be morally wrong, but it's legally mine. It was never yours, get over it, you'll never get a penny from me".

 

[anon12345678]

BTW: You NEVER needed brother's name on the title to buy it. What attorney advised you to do it this way?

That was my mother's idea, she wanted to make sure I could not sell the house without the counsel of my brother. She feared I would blow all of the money and trusted my brother.

 

[nextwife]

That was my mother's idea, she wanted to make sure I could not sell the house without the counsel of my brother. She feared I would blow all of the money and trusted my brother.

A consult with an attorney would have been well worth the money. A TRUST would have made more sense - when one puts someone else ON TITLE that makes them an OWNER, and entitled to proceeds.

 

[nextwife]

Talk to an attorney. You are way over your head and and have needed legal counsel on this for a LONG time.

 

[HomeGuru]

Talk to an attorney. You are way over your head and and have needed legal counsel on this for a LONG time.

**A: I agree, it's a mess.