Stole from mother with alzheimer's

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Missouri

Ok, I'm going to try to make a long story short and if you have any questions, please feel free to ask. My wife has a grandmother who has alzheimer's. My wife's uncle who is an accountant has led the family to believe he is power of attorney and over the years has been supposedly been taking care of her finances.

Recently the grandmothers insurance has dropped her due to lack of payment, the uncle has written numerous blank checks in his name and has had the grandmother sign them so he can deposit them into his personal account for him to use.

I'll leave it at that, but again, long story short this lady was probably worth a ton of money and now the siblings are trying to make ends meet for her. The family doesn't have a lot of for an attorney. Can something be done...if anything to him?

Thank you in advance.What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

tnrentee said:

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Missouri

Ok, I'm going to try to make a long story short and if you have any questions, please feel free to ask. My wife has a grandmother who has alzheimer's. My wife's uncle who is an accountant has led the family to believe he is power of attorney and over the years has been supposedly been taking care of her finances.

Recently the grandmothers insurance has dropped her due to lack of payment, the uncle has written numerous blank checks in his name and has had the grandmother sign them so he can deposit them into his personal account for him to use.

I'll leave it at that, but again, long story short this lady was probably worth a ton of money and now the siblings are trying to make ends meet for her. The family doesn't have a lot of for an attorney. Can something be done...if anything to him?

Thank you in advance.What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

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Petition for guardianship/conservatorship over granny. The guardian then can find out exactly what happened to granny's assests and go after any stolen assests. Interview some attorneys that specialize in guardianships & elder abuse. Many provide a free initial consultation.

Blondie, wouldn`t the grandmother need to be proven incompetent first. I mean if she signed the checks isn`t it her money to do with as she pleases until proven otherwise ? And sorry to the OP I didn`t mean to side track your post.

stilen621 said:

Blondie, wouldn`t the grandmother need to be proven incompetent first. I mean if she signed the checks isn`t it her money to do with as she pleases until proven otherwise ? And sorry to the OP I didn`t mean to side track your post.

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Once a petition for guardianship is filed with the court, the court sends people to visit the alleged incompetent. These people write reports and submits the reports to the court. BTW stilen, the OP has stated that granny does have Alzheimer's.

I understand the Alheimers issue Blondie, and I`m just curious as to who decides the incompetency issue of things. It`s my understanding that until a court determines a person is incompetent, that person is deemed competent. Am I correct in assuming that ? Is it not true that just because someone says someone else is incompetent, just saying it doesnt make it so ? I`m sure it could be considered spliting hairs but....Does that make sense ? Part of the reason I ask this is I`ve read allot of post`s on here about the "incompetent" issues yet there doesn`t seem to be one specific defining thing that determines it. I`m just trying to understand it better for myself is all. Thanks.

stilen621 said:

I understand the Alheimers issue Blondie, and I`m just curious as to who decides the incompetency issue of things. It`s my understanding that until a court determines a person is incompetent, that person is deemed competent. Am I correct in assuming that ? Is it not true that just because someone says someone else is incompetent, just saying it doesnt make it so ? I`m sure it could be considered spliting hairs but....Does that make sense ? Part of the reason I ask this is I`ve read allot of post`s on here about the "incompetent" issues yet there doesn`t seem to be one specific defining thing that determines it. I`m just trying to understand it better for myself is all. Thanks.

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In addition to what is in one's medical records regarding dementia, I suggest you learn and understand what is a "vulnerable adult". A person's say-so regarding labeling one as being incompetent can/cannot be backed up with medical records or professional evaluations such as what a court requires.

Determination of Competency

I am just going through the process of becoming guardian and conservator of my sister who has Alzheimer's/Dementia. I needed to do this in the state my sister resides in, which is Kentucky even though I reside in California. I had to petition the court for emergency guardianship since my sister was very ill and urgent medical decisions needed to be made on her behalf. (I was aided by social services in this process since my sister had been in a possible situation of abuse by neglect) At the emergency hearing an attorney was appointed on behalf of my sister by the court, a psychologist from social services concurred with a statement made by her physician that emergency guardianship was immediately necessary since she was unable to make decisions herself. The judge granted me emergency guardianship/conservator. In Kentucky emergency guardian/conservator is valid for up to two years.

I will return to court in the middle of August for the permanent guardianship/conservator hearing. Between now and the hearing the court requested a thorough psych evaluation. And, unless someone protests my petition, (ie, a greedy uncle) given the psych evaluation, the recommendations of her attorney and her physician I should be granted full permanent guardian/conservator.

So, to answer your question a final legal determination of competency is by a psych evaluation (the court picks who does it, but you pay for it), her physician's statement, and a court appointed lawyer (who has been assigned to represent your grandmother only) all going in front of a judge with you (and your attorney. I was surprised to discover that in Kentucky I didn't need one. I feel pretty certain it would not be so easy here in CA and I would probably require an attorney to represent me if I filed the same petition in CA). Based on the submitted information that is required by your state the judge will decide. To begin this process you must file a petition for Guardianship which is based on your belief that your grandmother is incompetent and needs a Guardian/conservator.

I suspect the process should be similar in your state.

BlondiePB said:

In addition to what is in one's medical records regarding dementia, I suggest you learn and understand what is a "vulnerable adult". A person's say-so regarding labeling one as being incompetent can/cannot be backed up with medical records or professional evaluations such as what a court requires.

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Thanks Blondie, Could you elaborate the "vulnerable adult" quote for me a little. You`ve probably seen a post or two of mine about this and the reason I ask is my brother sued me to have my moms POA changed under similar circumstances and was denied for lack of medical proof, years later my mom got tired of his crap and wanted to write him out of the will and went to a lawyer to do so and the lawyer wouldnt until she saw a neurologist and he said no after reading the report on her. After that my brother then just had her change all her documents after the report. The lawyer who changed them saw her for about 10 minutes and that was it, when I asked about her condition, the lawyer just said she seemed fine to him and that was it. We have two doctors reports saying she cannot comprehend legal documents.

stilen621 said:

Thanks Blondie, Could you elaborate the "vulnerable adult" quote for me a little. You`ve probably seen a post or two of mine about this and the reason I ask is my brother sued me to have my moms POA changed under similar circumstances and was denied for lack of medical proof, years later my mom got tired of his crap and wanted to write him out of the will and went to a lawyer to do so and the lawyer wouldnt until she saw a neurologist and he said no after reading the report on her. After that my brother then just had her change all her documents after the report. The lawyer who changed them saw her for about 10 minutes and that was it, when I asked about her condition, the lawyer just said she seemed fine to him and that was it. We have two doctors reports saying she cannot comprehend legal documents.

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Stilen, please start your own thread about this. Thank you.