What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Illinois
How do you stop endless false accusations? I am going broke trying to defend myself from endless accusations. A family member cleaned out my mom's house of all items of value after her death. As executor, I told her that she needed to return them. I had possession of several joint tenancy accounts. My lawyer had told me those were mine to distribute as I wished. (I know the joint tenancy rules are fuzzy for non-spousal arrangements, but my name replaced my father's after he passed,and it was arranged to be handled the same way.) I told her I had planned to distribute those evenly among the heirs, but she had to return the items to receive it. According to the will, all items needed to be purchased from the estate. She is now suing me, accused me of fraud, I stepped down as executor to try to get it settled. She keeps coming with more allegations. Our lawyer has said that he will request lawyer fees for us, but we are going broke in the interim. Her most recent accusation was that I was hiding an IRA. The number she had was an earlier account, which had rolled over to the one that is in the estate account. But I don't see an end to this - how can I make it stop? I feel like this is legal blackmail. We can either pay our lawyer lots of money to have it go to trial, or I have to pay off a woman who stole from the estate. Is there anything that can be done to stop this, or does the legal system allow for this type of behavior if someone doesn't like what is stated in the will.
How do you stop endless false accusations? I am going broke trying to defend myself from endless accusations. A family member cleaned out my mom's house of all items of value after her death. As executor, I told her that she needed to return them. I had possession of several joint tenancy accounts. My lawyer had told me those were mine to distribute as I wished. (I know the joint tenancy rules are fuzzy for non-spousal arrangements, but my name replaced my father's after he passed,and it was arranged to be handled the same way.) I told her I had planned to distribute those evenly among the heirs, but she had to return the items to receive it. According to the will, all items needed to be purchased from the estate. She is now suing me, accused me of fraud, I stepped down as executor to try to get it settled. She keeps coming with more allegations. Our lawyer has said that he will request lawyer fees for us, but we are going broke in the interim. Her most recent accusation was that I was hiding an IRA. The number she had was an earlier account, which had rolled over to the one that is in the estate account. But I don't see an end to this - how can I make it stop? I feel like this is legal blackmail. We can either pay our lawyer lots of money to have it go to trial, or I have to pay off a woman who stole from the estate. Is there anything that can be done to stop this, or does the legal system allow for this type of behavior if someone doesn't like what is stated in the will.
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