MYSTERY IN FLORIDA - possible fraud?

Hello.
I am in dire need of assistance. Three years ago I spoke to my Grand-Uncle in FLORIDA for the very last time. I lived 3000 miles away and when I sent a holiday card I was shocked that it was returned marked "moved out - no forwarding address". I have JUST recently learned that a woman identifying herself as his neice, buried him at the funeral where his wife rests (she died in '86) and notified NO ONE. The ONLY family he has is my father and my Uncle and me. NONE of us were notified. This woman was his HOUSEKEEPER. My last correspondence was in the form of letters discussing moving him out and into our home. I know she read his mail to him. I also have been informed by the place where he resided that she wrote her name as "Emergency Contact - Next of Kin" form. I have also discovered through a Private Investigator that she handled some of his affairs at a bank where he held an account. He is involved because of some unclaimed property he owns in Europe. NO ONE WILL TELL ME ANYTHING! Now that she has established herself as a relative, and I have shown otherwise, (afraid of liability for taking her statements at face value perhaps?) NO ONE will discuss anything or talk to me. The police are unwilling to help. No probate has been filed, and because no probate has been filed, his death certificate is not even listed in the county of his death (although I do have a copy now).
Where do I begin? The woman at the funeral home said that the woman posing as the niece paid the $816.oo outstanding balance on the funeral charges 3 weeks after his death on a check and marked it POA (Power of Attorney)... and the bank letter states that she was his "Representative". But there is no record of ANYTHING filed in the courts. Where should I look? What next? Would/should any of this be filed? I am afraid to approach her without legal or even police back-up. My Grand Uncle had some wealth in the form of coins, gold, diamonds, etc... all which I believe may exist in a safe deposit box. I also knew him to have a will, but since she moved him and all of his belongings out THREE years ago, and he died in 1997, I fear all is lost. Did she have a LEGAL obligation to notify us? I know she had my address because she sent holiday cards. She had his address books, etc... EVERYTHING. I fear she intentionally is hiding his will or has already falsley made away with the contents of the safe deposit box... WHAT DO I DO???
Any advice would be most appreciated.
Kytka

FEB. 23, 2001


DEAR KYTKA:

(1) What city and state did your grand uncle die in?
(2) What is the month and year of his death?
(3) When and how did you find out about his death?

What county is his death certificate listed in? If that is incorrect, then you really do need to take steps to have it corrected at the vital statistics office, because legally the death is supposed to be recorded at the county it occurred in.

The fact that the housekeeper did not notify any other relatives about the death is highly suspicious. Even though she may have had power of attorney, that only authorizes her to take care of his affairs while he is alive, and that power ended when he died (but she might not have been aware of this, or maybe she was aware but didn't care about that aspect and just forged ahead to get whatever she could).

The "Personal Representative" of someone's estate must be legally authorized by the probate court to serve in that capacity. Any interested party can apply for that position, and I'm assuming that this is what she did, since you mentioned that this was how the bank letter referred to her. However, since you mentioned that no will was on file, this means that she may have not submitted any estate papers to the court and has acted illegally. If nothing has been filed on his estate, then you should file a petition to be named the personal representative, and then you will have the authorization to go to his bank and get information about how much was in his accounts when they were closed and how much was in the safe deposit box (if anything). The only complication is that the bank may have already given her access to the safe deposit box (if she tricked them by saying she was personal representative) and she may have already cashed in the coins, gold, and diamonds.

On the negative side, it seems as if it is too late now to do anything about this matter, since the housekeeper apparently has gained control of all his assets and has probably spent it all by now. Your only hope to recover anything would be if she had a valuable home that could be sold to pay your compensation if you won a fraud suit against her, but it would cost you a lost of money upfront to retain a lawyer.

On the positive side, she has left herself very much open to having legal charges filed against her:
(1) The power of attorney did not authorize her to be executor.
(2) If she knew of a will and didn't file it within a certain time period (perhaps 30 days after the person died) or destroyed it, that's illegal.

It may be somewhat problematic for you to have someone to do all of the paperwork research that would show the paper trail of all the wrong things she has done: bank records, her own bank account, real estate transactions, did she get his life insurance policies, etc. If she has assets over $10,000, it may be worth going after, but if it's less than that, it may not be worth the trouble.

SINCERELY,

[email protected]

You asked:
(1) What city and state did your grand uncle die in?
(2) What is the month and year of his death?
(3) When and how did you find out about his death?

What county is his death certificate listed in?

De died in Miami Beach (Dade County) Florida in November 1997. I learned of his death because he was a Holocaust survivor and a private party who does searches for "property looking for people" contacted us because we were listed as next of kin on a form at his apartment where he resided for over 20 years. Note that in 1996 however, that next of kin form was changed to have her name on it (in what looks like her writing). I have also since discovered that there are two parties with the same last name involved. The housekeeper is listed as the emergency contact person and sent the check with the POA, the woman who listed herself as niece at the funeral home is the one who claims she was his representative -- I JUST learned that she is an attorney, passed the bar in 1992 but has NO practice/office or anything of that sort. I was also looking at tax assessor's records and it seems that real estate showing up in their names was in the form of quitclaim deeds and passes from one sister to the next (if they are sisters, they may be mother/daughter). I think I will confront her and request that she immediately hand over all papers, etc... and if not then threaten to contact the District Attorney, the Bar Assoc. etc... What do you think?