$20,000 embezzled from my wife's dad.

[jeffareid]

This incident took place in Anacortes Washington. My wife and I now live in California. My wife's dad moved from Anacortes Washington to live with use on January 15.

Summary:

The lady my wife's dad George was living with, took $20,000 out of his life savings of $50,000 the day he left her home to move in with us because of failing health and dementia. She claims to have a note authorizing her to take the $20,000, dated on the day before he left. Based on her lawyer's description, she wrote and had him sign (two different handwritings), but George is unable to write legibly and requires someone hold his arm so he can write, so I suspect forgery; this will be confirmed when receive a copy of this note from the lady's lawyer. Because of severe dementia, George is incapable of being able sign any document wihout a witness to confirm he's coherent enough to understand what is going on. When asked, George stated that he never authorized this lady to take any money from his bank accounts. He also repeated the statement that he never authorized this woman to take any of his money to the lady's lawyer.

This is a woman that owns a home worth over $400,000, and had several hundred thousand in her banking accounts. George was aware of this and knew she didn't need his money. However this woman has exhibited extreme greed the entire time I've known her.

Any advice would be welcome here, as well as a referral to a good attorney in the Anacortes Washington area.

History:

My wife's dad, George, has been living with this woman, Hattie in her home in Anacortes Washington for 23 years, except for a short time when he was living with us after he had a stroke 6 years ago. Due to deteriorating mental and physical health, it was decided to relocate George to live with us in California again. The final arrangements were made to fly him out here on January 15, 2007.

While George was living with Hattie, he added her to his bank accounts so she could do the banking for him, since his mental and physical health prevented him from doing so. The arrangment was for Hattie to only take out money for rent, and the monthly expenses. This was basically a verbal agreement that she would act as a trustee for George.

When my wife took her dad George, to a local branch to transfer money to the local branch, we discovered that Hattie had taken $20,000 from Georges bank account. She did this via two telephone orders of $10,000, apparently to hide any reporting to the IRS by the bank.

When asked about this she claimed that she had a note, dated January 14, 2007, the day before he left, that George was giving her $20,000 for the care she gave him. When contacting her lawyer, he stated that the handwriting on the note was different than the handwriting on the signature.

Before George had a stroke 6 years ago, they had a verbal, possibly written, agreement that neither would take the others money except if one of them died, in which case $3,000 was to be used to help with funeral costs.

While George was living with Hattie in her home, he was paying her $500 / month rent (maybe more in the recent past), and to split the cost of groceries and utilities. Based on bank records, this took most if not all of his Social Security check of about $1300 per month.

George had a stroke 6 years ago, but Hattie refused to have a nurse over for more than one day a week, and his mental and physical health deteriorated. We moved him to our home and when he first arrived was not able to speak coherently, was barely mobile, and could not raise his arms above his chest. After a few months of proper care, George recovered, well enough that he wanted to move back with Hattie.

During his stay here, and visits to doctors, George was diagnosed with dementia because of the stroke, and his age. Hattie was made aware of his dementia, and his general reduced mental and physical capacity. Although George loved Hattie and wanted to be with her, she was at first reluctant, but then mentioned something about the rent and agreed to have him return, leading me to believe she was more concerned with his money than his welfare.

For the last several years, Hattie has been complaining about George not being able to take care of himself. We constantly requested that they have a full time nurse to take care of George, but she stated it was too expensive, although it was George's money that was paying for this care, another clue that Hattie was concerned about getting George's money. On average, a nurse would come in once a week, and many of them were fired by Hattie or quit because of Hattie. During this time George's mental and health continued to decline due to lack of proper care until he got extremely bad in December. He had no id (no driver's license for years), so we hired a nurse to take him to the DMV so he could get an id and then fly back to our home in California.

This brings this accounting of the events where we arranged to have George fly out on January 15, 2007. Hattie telephoned the order to withdraw the two $10,000 amount, that same day. The note she claims George signed is dated January 14, 2007, the day before, based on her lawyer's decription.

[stephenk]

And your legal question is *******************?

[jeffareid]

Originally Posted by stephenk

And your legal question is *******************?

Was a law violated (theft, embezzlement, fraud, or something related to the fact that Hattie got access to the bank account's due to George's inability to comprehend what was happening, and later took his money)?

Can we sue, and if so, on what basis?

Originally Posted by jeffaried

Any advice would be welcome here, as well as a referral to a good attorney in the Anacortes Washington area.

[JETX]

For whatever it is worth... I started reading your post to see if I could help... and it quickly became far too long and rambling to go through.
Best of luck.

[jeffareid]

Originally Posted by JETX

For whatever it is worth... I started reading your post to see if I could help... and it quickly became far too long and rambling to go through.
Best of luck.

Ok short version.

George has severe dementia. Hattie, who he was living with, takes him to the bank and adds her name to his bank accounts. The lady later withdraws $20,000 from his bank account.

She claims to have a note she wrote and he signed stating he gave her permission to take the $20,000. He states that he would never authorize her to take his money.

[JETX]

Originally Posted by jeffareid

George has severe dementia. Hattie, who he was living with, takes him to the bank and adds her name to his bank accounts. The lady later withdraws $20,000 from his bank account.

She claims to have a note she wrote and he signed stating he gave her permission to take the $20,000. He states that he would never authorize her to take his money.

Fast answer:
1) Have someone take George to the bank and close his account and move to another bank.
2) Have George contact the police and file a complaint.
3) Have someone declared as a guardian for George, since he clearly cannot manage his own affairs.

[jeffareid]

Thanks for the info.

What is the procedure so my wife can become a guardian for her dad?

[JETX]

Originally Posted by jeffareid

What is the procedure so my wife can become a guardian for her dad?

In California, this is more accurately described as a 'conservatorship of estate', meaning that the court appoints someone to handle the financial affairs of another. For more, go to the following site:
[url]http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/selfhelp/seniors/duties.htm[/url]

and a book:
Conservatorship Book for California
by Paul Bergman, Sara J. Berman-Barrett, Sara J. Berman-Barrett
ISBN: 0873375513
Pub. Date: April 2001

[jeffareid]

Thanks for the help.

[jeffareid]

A followup. We've contated Adult Protection Services and they are going to help out. We are getting my wife's Dad checked out by a doctor to confirm the dementia, and the fact he wouldn't understand what he was signing (or even be able to read and comprehend). Hopefully once this is done, Hattie and her lawyer maybe resonable and offer to settle, if not, the lawyer stated we'd have a good case with the diagnosis of dementia.