Living trust broken....

my brother who was given complete power of attorney before my mother's death. She suffered a stroke but was still of sound mind four years before she died. she was under the care of this brother who over the years begin to neglect even her most basic needs. even before the funeral this brother called me and let me know that he was going to charge the living trust fees for his care and his time visiting her in the hospital, and for all else he could think of in order that he would not have to pay back the monies he "borrowed" from the trust. He used my mother's monthly income plus monies from the state of Idaho, none of this money went for any thing but bare nessities for her, when she needed teeth, (yet he used her money to buy into the futures market, buying wheat, cocoa and soy at $5,000 a share!)he said that the money was no longer hers, but his. The trust held around $135,000 and my mother's wishes was to divide it among five of us siblings. my brother basically robbed us of our inheritence knowing we cannot afford a lawyer. He is counting on the fact that we have little money, and it really burns me up that he can get away with this. we are from california and he lives in Idaho, which gives him another advantage. Is there anywhere and anyone I can turn to? my mother trusted him and i hate to see him get away with such betrayal!!! this is just a small outline of the situation, but enough to give you an idea of what has transpired. i have written documents and proof of all his financial records.

You need an attorney.

where did her income come from
and did he misuse the money from the state if he did then you may want to file a complaint with the state for the misuse at a minimum tell him you will be filing a complaint to see if there was any illegal activitiy and you will see to it he is prosecuted

Get a lawyer if he used money from the trust to invest and that money made money the earnings most likely belongs to the trust

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the money he received from the state we have no problem with, that was about 1,300 and he used that to live on. he had no bills to pay except for food and electic bills, he had plenty of money to live on. what we object to is his using the money from the trust to invest in futures, (he lost all that he paid in) the investment in gold my mother had, he took out at a loss for his futures. he just kept syphoning off from the trust and when it came to pay it off, he began to think up all the charges he could think of in order that he would not have to pay back the money. he told me this himself, there was no agreement before hand that he could use this money, the trust states that whoever had borrowed money after my mother's death, would have that deducted, but he borrowed much more than his share, and then begin to deduct charges he made up, so that he would not have to pay back what he borrowed. I am now trying to get proof of neglect of my mother, if this is so, would it be something that the district attorney of idaho would handle, or would i still need to see a lawyer? I did try and find one, but he wanted a $10,000 retainer, which we could not afford. is there any other avenues that i can take that would be less expensive, would a paralegal beable to do anything? thank you for taking the trouble to respond to my inquiry.

shop around and see if you can find a lawyer for less money
but you sound like you will need one and will not get any where without one
how badly do you want to fight this not sure if you want to do this but if you think there are laws broken take what you have to the distrct attorneys office

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thank you again for your quick response...you have been a big help. I at least know what direction to take if my suspicions are correct.

AUG 20, 2001

DEAR MCDONALD:

So sorry about this difficult situation you are involved in. I do congratulate you for standing up for your rights and not letting this crook get away scot-free.

You do need an Idaho probate attorney to represent you (although you may need to continue looking--there are many who would probably charge less than $10,000--you may also want to post this question on the website www.lawguru.com where it is more likely that an Idaho attorney would see it and respond), but first I would write a letter or call the police in the city of Idaho that the death occurred in or that the theft took place in, to get some idea of whether or not charges could be filed against this individual. You might also want to ask any attorney you would consider hiring if he has experience in handling trusts or whether another outside expert in trusts would need to be consulted.

I'll bet your paper trail of the documents you kept will be enough to put this perpetrator in jail for a long time!

You forgot to mention approximately how long ago the death occurred and approximately what year the theft/misappropriation took place, so I hope you don't need to be concerned about an expired statute of limitations on his actions. Have you also checked at the county courthouse (of the city where the death occurred) to review the probate file to see if the estate is open or closed--the probate file should have a wealth of documents in it that would show how he handled the estate (financial records, etc.).

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dear advisor,
Thank you for your response, my mother died last August, so it has't been that long. I will look into what you have suggesed. I appreciate your encouragement and advice. sincerely, Lynda