qestion on probate

[momsgirl]

What is the name of your state? oklahoma
my dad died a few years ago. mom had azhimers disease, brother was made power of attorney. have posted before on this. mom was put in assisted living, all mail and bank statements went to brother address. after not working a few years he started putting his paychecks in bank(supenoded bank records) paychecks were deposited directly in my mom's account. account was not jointly owned. you can tell he did not make enough to pay his bills, so he used mom's money. i don't know if i should have done this but after mom died i got a credit report on her. 25 charge cards, 5 still active, some with balances of $5000. my mother had plenty of money, no need for credit card, a few were opened after dad died. no way my mom could do that, she couldn't read. a few are still being used and he is still making payments. i supect my brother opened them and took cash advance and deposited them in his personal account. and made payments from mom's account. credit limit on some are $18000. okay, brother says my mom knew what he was doing, how when she never got bank statements or bills?? lawyer is going route of mental incomtant, lawyer fees are adding up. have all bank records now wants to get dr records, thats even more money. afraid if we dig deeper we may have to pay all these credit cards and definatly won't be any money left. what a mess. is there any other way to do it?? thank you all for any help.

 

[BlondiePB]

afraid if we dig deeper we may have to pay all these credit cards and definatly won't be any money left. what a mess.

Your brother is responsible for the credit card fraud, no one else.

is there any other way to do it?

This type of litigation can get costly. You definitely need an attorney for this.

thank you all for any help.

You are welcome.

 

[momsgirl]

elderly abuse or imcomptant

well have now copies of checks he signed from bank. paid his rent for 2 years, utilities, car payments. all totaling over $20,000. that is not smaller checks for like weight watchers, tanning ect. which probably total at least $10,000. his defence is my mother knew what he was doing..but how she never saw a bank statement or bills they all went to his address. even in her right mind she never would have allowed him to pay his bills with her money. do have a lawyer, but can't understand why we have to go pay for dr records when looks like we could stop now..it was not a joint account, he just had power of attorney. i just want him to repay what he used out of his stock money. to me he abused his power. thank you again!

 

[BlondiePB]

well have now copies of checks he signed from bank. paid his rent for 2 years, utilities, car payments. all totaling over $20,000. that is not smaller checks for like weight watchers, tanning ect. which probably total at least $10,000. his defence is my mother knew what he was doing..but how she never saw a bank statement or bills they all went to his address. even in her right mind she never would have allowed him to pay his bills with her money. do have a lawyer, but can't understand why we have to go pay for dr records when looks like we could stop now..it was not a joint account, he just had power of attorney. i just want him to repay what he used out of his stock money. to me he abused his power. thank you again!

The medical records are important because of your mother's alzheimers. It does cost to obtain the records. Yes, your brother did abuse his POA. Glad to know you have an attorney.

 

[momsgirl]

blondie

it looks like he charged all mom's bills and just made payments until he quit paying cards and they charged off. the rest of her money he used for himself. in the begining when i mentioned to mom she wasn't getting her bank statements or bills she would tell brother i was trying to cause trouble..she like to do that like a little kid. and he would threaten to get a retraining order against me for upsetting mom. i tried to help her, feel so guilty now.

 

[BlondiePB]

it looks like he charged all mom's bills and just made payments until he quit paying cards and they charged off. the rest of her money he used for himself. in the begining when i mentioned to mom she wasn't getting her bank statements or bills she would tell brother i was trying to cause trouble..she like to do that like a little kid. and he would threaten to get a retraining order against me for upsetting mom. i tried to help her, feel so guilty now.

momsgirl, don't feel guilty for trying to protect your mother from a thief. Elders with dementia do not encode information correctly and trust the thieves.

 

[momsgirl]

Another Question On Probate

still waiting on medical reports on mom. lawyer told me to on through all 3 years of 5 different bank account statements and seperate mom's and brother's spending. this is impossible, since he kept no records and used her account as his own. he gave me an earlier hand written accounting i want to use in court since he forgot to put down a life insuance policy, it shows he owes me $21,000. you know it has her assisited living expense, her medication expense ( no reciets) all this is estimates. gosh $1100 a month for meds and she had insurance. is there any other way, i have spent days trying to do this. all i am asking is him to pay attorney fees and bills against estate out of his stock money he has coming which is close to the 21,000 he owes me. oh help! he made such a tangled mess.

 

[BlondiePB]

still waiting on medical reports on mom.

Okay.

lawyer told me to on through all 3 years of 5 different bank account statements and seperate mom's and brother's spending. this is impossible, since he kept no records and used her account as his own. he gave me an earlier hand written accounting i want to use in court since he forgot to put down a life insuance policy, it shows he owes me $21,000.

Since your brother has/had the check registers for these accounts, that makes going through the accounts from the bank statements impossible. Bank statements do not have who/what the checks were issued to on the statements.

Do you have the legal authorization for the bank to release the records of these accounts to you? If so, you will have to pay for copies of the cancelled checks. If not, there is no way I would accept a handwritten/informal accounting. A formal accounting is audited by the court. There is a fee for this; however, the fee is not a lot of money. Your brother can be forced to produce the copies of the cancelled checks.

you know it has her assisited living expense, her medication expense ( no reciets) all this is estimates. gosh $1100 a month for meds and she had insurance.

The problem with insurance paying for medications is whether or not the assisted living facility's (ALF) pharmacy was sent the insurance information and just exactly what the insurance covers regarding the medication. With that said, the montly cost of medication for your mother ($1100) is something that is not unheard of.

is there any other way, i have spent days trying to do this. all i am asking is him to pay attorney fees and bills against estate out of his stock money he has coming which is close to the 21,000 he owes me. oh help! he made such a tangled mess.

Discuss with your attorney offering your brother a settlement to drop the litigation.

 

[momsgirl]

blondie

brother refused to order meds from assisted living, said it was too much. dad had meds mailed to house when he was a live. but brother just used walgreens, walmart any grocery store. so no way to know if it was for her meds or his groceries. then to complcate everything, turns out one account was a joint account, have to wait on dr report to see how he did that, other account was just in mom's name where her social security and stock dividends went. he used that account as his own. appearently bank thought mom was living with him and paying the rent. since he has put court off again for accounting, i am sure he has problems of his own. thank you so much for your help. i will talk to lawyer and ask if we can make a deal with brother before pre trial hearing.

 

[momsgirl]

blondie

i got medical records today. she scored 16 on mini mental state exam taken 1 month after brother turned accounts into joint accounts. i thought they would forward dr records she had before we moved her. just had to tell you. thank you so much for listening to me.

 

[BlondiePB]

i got medical records today. she scored 16 on mini mental state exam taken 1 month after brother turned accounts into joint accounts. i thought they would forward dr records she had before we moved her. just had to tell you. thank you so much for listening to me.

You are very welcome. The best of luck to you.

 

[momsgirl]

another problem

oklahoma.thought i was done, but now lawyer says no way brother is going to walk a way from his inheritance with out a fight. lawyer said i need to think about the fact the fight will wipe out all the money. well we go to pre triall hearing in a few weeks.mom had mini mental exam score of 16, which is moderate to server alz. brother said one account she signed for him joint owner, the other he used for himself without his name on it, that was account of her social security,charge cards he used on himself. i don't understand. if he did all this wrong why would there be a fight. i thought judge would tell brother you all ready spent your inheritance the rest is hers. it wasn't hard to find all the checks he spent on himself, i didn't even worry about joint account any more. i thought there was enough proof. lawyer said even if i fight i might i may not win. won't the judge look at evidence and make a ruling???

 

[BlondiePB]

thought i was done, but now lawyer says no way brother is going to walk a way from his inheritance with out a fight.

He has the right to fight this.

lawyer said i need to think about the fact the fight will wipe out all the money.

This type of litigation is costly.

i don't understand. if he did all this wrong why would there be a fight.

This is the American way. We, Americans, are afforded the opportunity to fight things out in a court of law.

i thought judge would tell brother you all ready spent your inheritance the rest is hers. it wasn't hard to find all the checks he spent on himself, i didn't even worry about joint account any more.i thought there was enough proof. lawyer said even if i fight i might i may not win. won't the judge look at evidence and make a ruling???

Right now, this has not gone before a judge to make a ruling. Judges do become very irate about embezzling funds from estates. Your lawyer is just doing his/her job by informing you of the worse case scenario(s).

This may/may not be settled at pre-trial.