What is the name of your state? Kansas
I'll start with the simple stuff, as this case gets kind of complicated. I have a father who is 83, just completed a two month stint in a rehab facility, and moved into an assisted living facility after residing in his own home for 39 years. I have turned this matter into our State's Insurance Anti-fraud unit as well, but basically, two annuity policies were purchased for my father, one for about $33,000 and another for about $50,000 with the same insurance company. The address listed on both applications is my sister's home address, with neither my Dad's residence address for 39 years listed, nor his assisted living facility's address, where he gets his mail now. My Dad only had three children: two sons, one of whom is writing this, and a sister. The sister is the one I believe to be committing financial exploitation.
So the two annuity policies, written on two separate dates in Sept. of 2006, have my sister's address listed under my father's name as his residence address, lists herself as sole beneficiary, does not list a phone number for either my father or my sister, and so far, two others I have shown the copies of the annuity applications to, agree with me, that the signatures on both annuity applications are forgeries.
I am a licensed insurance agent myself who does not do business with my father for fear of conflict of interest. My brother was visiting my father at the assisted living facility, saw the two annuity policies, which, by the way, were Single Premium Immediate Income annuities, designed to pay out in five years and then quit. If my father died before the five years, all money remaining went to my sister. So my brother discovers these, shows them to my uncle, who is a CPA, who then asks my Dad about this. My Dad is not the brightest when it comes to handling money. My mother largely did that, but she passed away in July of this year.
Also important to note, that the $33,000 to fund one annuity, came from a Deferred annuity on my late mother, that was sent to an insurance agent, and then remitted by the agent to the Single Premium Immediate annuity, rather than transferred from the one carrier to the other. I matched up the exact dollar amount of the transfer from the one company on Sept. 7, 2006, to the other carrier, on Sept. 13, 2006. When my Dad was made aware of all this, he rescinded the new annuity and got a check back in the exact amount that was sent out from the Deferred Annuity on Sept. 7. I witnessed the refund check myself.
The $50,000 amount was also sent to an agent, rather than directly transferred from an IRA, and triggered immediate tax consequences on the whole amount, and this amount moved from the first carrier on Aug. 29, 2006, to the second carrier on Sept. 11, 2006, and in between, the agent who set up the second carrier handled the money, by means of a written "authorization" form that he drafted, and that I believe, contained yet another forgery of my Dad's signature.
Both of these transactions were caught by accident by my brother, who showed the annuity policies with the attached application forms to me. They were almost out of the rescission period. Although these transactions have been rescinded, I believe either the agent or my sister forged my Dad's signature several times, and because the intent of the two transactions appear to be to conceal the existence of these annuities from the rest of the family, we wonder if these are prosecutable offenses.
My sister admits no wrongdoing, her husband is an attorney, who drafted wills and durable power of attorney forms on July 25, 2006 for my Dad to sign and he apparently did, while he was in rehab, and now no one can get signed copies of anything. It is Nov. 13 as I write this, and neither my Dad nor my brother and I can get copies.
My sister has also sold my Dad's car for about $7,000, and we can't find out who the buyer is. The car was sold Oct. 6, 2006, according to the County motor vehicle department.
In addition, a check made payable to my late mother, was cashed by my sister a month after my Mom died, and the company who handled my mother's pension found out my mother had died and asked for the check of $1,212.21 back. The sister cashed the check on Aug. 14, 2006, no forgery this time, but because unbelievably, she's a signer on my Dad's checking account, signed, "Pay to the order of ...my father's name." The company wrote a letter asking for the funds back on Aug. 30, 2006, and the letter was ignored. The company wrote again on Oct. 2, 2006. That letter was ignored. Finally, another agent who is helping out at the request of myself and my brother explained, that my Mom's pension fund only paid while she was alive and that all payments were to stop upon her death. My sister continued to contend that my Dad was entitled to the money even after receiving advice from an attorney that he had to pay it back. My Dad doesn't even know if the money went into his checking account. He just knows that my sister cashed the check. There were no survivor options attached to that check. I called the company myself and asked. It's equivalent to cashing a Social Security check on someone who has died, rather than returning the check back to Social Security.
We think there are other incidents of fraud and financial exploitation committed by my sister as well, but again, her and her husband refuse to provide copies of any wills or DPOA's, they refuse to talk to either my brother and me, and what they did provide, were copies of a will with no signatures that left my sister entirely in charge of my Dad's estate to distribute as she saw fit. None of this is what my Dad wants, but he's lonely, and feeds off the attention of my sister and her kids and grandkids.
What are our options here? We caught her this time, but she is still a signer on my Dad's checking account and treats the DPOA, a copy of which they claim to have but won't show, as if she can take over my Dad's affairs.
I'll start with the simple stuff, as this case gets kind of complicated. I have a father who is 83, just completed a two month stint in a rehab facility, and moved into an assisted living facility after residing in his own home for 39 years. I have turned this matter into our State's Insurance Anti-fraud unit as well, but basically, two annuity policies were purchased for my father, one for about $33,000 and another for about $50,000 with the same insurance company. The address listed on both applications is my sister's home address, with neither my Dad's residence address for 39 years listed, nor his assisted living facility's address, where he gets his mail now. My Dad only had three children: two sons, one of whom is writing this, and a sister. The sister is the one I believe to be committing financial exploitation.
So the two annuity policies, written on two separate dates in Sept. of 2006, have my sister's address listed under my father's name as his residence address, lists herself as sole beneficiary, does not list a phone number for either my father or my sister, and so far, two others I have shown the copies of the annuity applications to, agree with me, that the signatures on both annuity applications are forgeries.
I am a licensed insurance agent myself who does not do business with my father for fear of conflict of interest. My brother was visiting my father at the assisted living facility, saw the two annuity policies, which, by the way, were Single Premium Immediate Income annuities, designed to pay out in five years and then quit. If my father died before the five years, all money remaining went to my sister. So my brother discovers these, shows them to my uncle, who is a CPA, who then asks my Dad about this. My Dad is not the brightest when it comes to handling money. My mother largely did that, but she passed away in July of this year.
Also important to note, that the $33,000 to fund one annuity, came from a Deferred annuity on my late mother, that was sent to an insurance agent, and then remitted by the agent to the Single Premium Immediate annuity, rather than transferred from the one carrier to the other. I matched up the exact dollar amount of the transfer from the one company on Sept. 7, 2006, to the other carrier, on Sept. 13, 2006. When my Dad was made aware of all this, he rescinded the new annuity and got a check back in the exact amount that was sent out from the Deferred Annuity on Sept. 7. I witnessed the refund check myself.
The $50,000 amount was also sent to an agent, rather than directly transferred from an IRA, and triggered immediate tax consequences on the whole amount, and this amount moved from the first carrier on Aug. 29, 2006, to the second carrier on Sept. 11, 2006, and in between, the agent who set up the second carrier handled the money, by means of a written "authorization" form that he drafted, and that I believe, contained yet another forgery of my Dad's signature.
Both of these transactions were caught by accident by my brother, who showed the annuity policies with the attached application forms to me. They were almost out of the rescission period. Although these transactions have been rescinded, I believe either the agent or my sister forged my Dad's signature several times, and because the intent of the two transactions appear to be to conceal the existence of these annuities from the rest of the family, we wonder if these are prosecutable offenses.
My sister admits no wrongdoing, her husband is an attorney, who drafted wills and durable power of attorney forms on July 25, 2006 for my Dad to sign and he apparently did, while he was in rehab, and now no one can get signed copies of anything. It is Nov. 13 as I write this, and neither my Dad nor my brother and I can get copies.
My sister has also sold my Dad's car for about $7,000, and we can't find out who the buyer is. The car was sold Oct. 6, 2006, according to the County motor vehicle department.
In addition, a check made payable to my late mother, was cashed by my sister a month after my Mom died, and the company who handled my mother's pension found out my mother had died and asked for the check of $1,212.21 back. The sister cashed the check on Aug. 14, 2006, no forgery this time, but because unbelievably, she's a signer on my Dad's checking account, signed, "Pay to the order of ...my father's name." The company wrote a letter asking for the funds back on Aug. 30, 2006, and the letter was ignored. The company wrote again on Oct. 2, 2006. That letter was ignored. Finally, another agent who is helping out at the request of myself and my brother explained, that my Mom's pension fund only paid while she was alive and that all payments were to stop upon her death. My sister continued to contend that my Dad was entitled to the money even after receiving advice from an attorney that he had to pay it back. My Dad doesn't even know if the money went into his checking account. He just knows that my sister cashed the check. There were no survivor options attached to that check. I called the company myself and asked. It's equivalent to cashing a Social Security check on someone who has died, rather than returning the check back to Social Security.
We think there are other incidents of fraud and financial exploitation committed by my sister as well, but again, her and her husband refuse to provide copies of any wills or DPOA's, they refuse to talk to either my brother and me, and what they did provide, were copies of a will with no signatures that left my sister entirely in charge of my Dad's estate to distribute as she saw fit. None of this is what my Dad wants, but he's lonely, and feeds off the attention of my sister and her kids and grandkids.
What are our options here? We caught her this time, but she is still a signer on my Dad's checking account and treats the DPOA, a copy of which they claim to have but won't show, as if she can take over my Dad's affairs.