Brother Drained Parents' Accounts While He Was Poa

What is the name of your state? California

When my father died in 1992, my brother, who was executor/POA drained every bank account belonging jointly to my parents. He deposited the money into our ranch maintenance account. He ran the ranch on his own, and neither my mother or myself have ever seen that money. Now my mother is ill and needs money. A friend said I should get my father's credit report and locate all the accounts first. I'm not sure what to do first. Help!!

I'm not sure you can do anything after 15 years. If there were more facts regarding agreements and whatnot, maybe, but probably not. I'm sorry but I can't even think of any throw it against the wall and see if it sticks ideas.

I have a few questions.

I assume the POA was given by your mother to your brother. Your father's POA, if any, would have expired when he did.

What event triggered your increased interest in your mother's affairs?

One possibility is that your brother may be a successor trustee acting for your mother's benefit under a trust formed by your father and mother. Who owns the ranch? What do you mean by "our" ranch maintenance account? Could this be a trust account? Do you have a present interest in any of your parent's property?

Has your brother refused to pay any of your mother's bills when due?

A friend said I should get my father's credit report and locate all the accounts first. I'm not sure what to do first. Help!!

Click to expand...

Stop listening to your friend. Unless there was a trust established, you may be SOL (and I don't mean Statute of Limitiations).

As asked, define "our ranch account".

Look in the probate division of the courthouse where dad resided and see if there's any information regarding his estate and a trust under his name.

This is elderly financial abuse and/or abuse of POA. He was supposed to keep receipts of how he spent the money and an accounting statement, to prove he wasn't spending the money on himself. Your attorney general's website will have information on how to file a complaint regarding elderly financial abuse or you can hire a family law attorney to do it.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA

You will be unable to get any records from the financial institutions. You should have done something then, now it is too late.

Don't automatically assume that you won't be able to get financial records (although that is certainly a possibility) until you have checked with the institution first. Some records are kept on microfilm and other methods that you or the institution might be able to get depending on how complete their document storage is.

And exactly how is he supposed to get the authority to access the records?

lwpat said:

And exactly how is he supposed to get the authority to access the records?

Click to expand...

... ... ...

Wheez

I am in the final round of a four-year fight with my half-sister to have over $1,000,000.00 returned to my father's estate that she misappropriated while acting as agent under a POA. I have learned ALOT during this time.

I assume that you and/or your mother are "interested parties" in your father's will? If so, (and if the Court still has records) you need to obtain a few CERTIFIED COPIES of your father's will and a COPY of the "Inventory of Assets" that your brother filed with the Probate Court when your father died. From there, and as an "interested party," you will be able to request your father's tax information from the IRS under the Freedom of Information Act (The irs.gov website has instructions on how to request information under the FOIA). You will also need to obtain a few "Certified" copies of your father's death certificate and send the IRS one of them along with your request. You will also need to draft a "Letter of Intent/Instruction" outlining the details of your request and have it notarized.

In your "Letter of Intent," you will want to request all "Attachments" to your father's returns for the years specified. Specifically, you want to request all 1099s (MISC), all 1099s (INT), all 1099s (DIV), W-2s, etc. I suggest that you request this information for one year prior to your father's death, the year of your father's death, and the year following your father's death. These "attachments" will provide you with a wealth of information such as name & address of holding company, dates and amounts of assets sold, etc. From there, you can contact his brokerage accounts directly. (Not all asset companys will give you the information that you are seeking, but some will. You may have to hire an attorney to subpoena this information if you can't get it on your own.) You can also request your father's tax returns for these years. Make sure to also request the attachments as above along with the returns.

I was able to locate (7) of my father's brokerage accounts and over $1,000,000.00 in stolen estate assets using this method. Give it a shot.

The OP's father died 15 yrs ago & unless there was a trust, she's SOL, Wheez