Check Fraud/False Informing

We live in Indiana. On January 26, 1999 we had a fire that destroyed our business. There were 4 claimants property in the building at the time. The insurance company paid all four claimants for their loss. One of the claimants was my husband’s brother. His work keeps him on the road for weeks at a time. He asked that we handle most of this for him with the adjuster and that the check be mailed to our home as he was going to sign it over to us for past purchases and leave the rest on account for future use. When the check arrived we gave it to his eldest son who had worked for us before the fire. The son took the check and came back a week later with it signed. I made copies of the front and back of the check as I do with all 2 party checks and anything to do with the fire; I then deposited it into our account. 9 months later there was a huge family fall out and we cut all ties with my husbands family. My husband’s family has since then harassed my husband, our 2 children, and myself none of the harassment has ever been because of the check. The brother has also gone to mutual friends in the past year and a half and threatened to get us any way he could. On January 26th, 2001, a police officer called us stating that my husband brother is accusing us of check fraud and stating he never knew anything about this check and that he never signed it. I immediately pulled the file and starting looking for the check. I remembered the wife of my husbands brother bragging how her son (the one who took the check) and his father have the same name and they sign their names the same and how she has him sign things when his dad is out of town, (I also have a witness to this as well as saying he has seen the son and mother do this). The son had worked for us for a short period of time and I had employment hire forms that he had to fill out and sign so I pulled these and the signature matches perfectly. We then called the officer and asked him to come to our home. We showed him the evidence and all he cared about was asking about the motor and the other claimants and things that would be a civil matter that mikes brother would have to file and get evidence for himself. We asked the officer if he had a copy of the check and a copy of his brother’s signature from that time period and he said he had the check but got no signature from the brother. We found this shocking! I would think in a case of signature fraud you would want a copy of the accusers signature! We know that this officer is a friend of the brother. My question, after all this lengthy mess of a story is what questions do we have to answer and what type of evidence are we required to give in this case? We would also like to press charges when we are cleared of the check fraud against the brother so he will finally leave us alone. Do we need an attorney to do that?

Thank You.

I am a law school graduate. What I offer is mere information, not to be construed as forming an attorney client relationship.

You will need to do the following before you hire an attorney to possibly defend any civil litigation from brother's accusations:

1. that check copy and the original canceled check (subpoened).

2. Signatures either from your records or subpoened from brother's bank account of his signature. Signature of the son and mother in the same way (to show they signed or something).

3. Witness affadavits (notarized sworn statements) regarding mom and son practice of signing checks on behalf of dad.

4. Once this is dismissed (if never filed, you should not pursue), then you file for abuse of civil process against the brother.


Try http://www.attorneypages.com or call your state bar.