'jtwros' on stock account

[KJ1]

My mother lives in Michigan. She has Alzheimers and cancer. She had two accounts with Merrill Lynch. One account was in my mothers name, my sisters name, and my name as 'jtwros'. In June of 1998, the assets of this account were transferred into an acct. with my mothers name alone, and transfer upon death to my sister.

Merrill Lynch said this change happened when they received a letter of authorization signed by all three account signers. I never saw, or signed such a letter!

My mother had assets worth over one million dollars, during 1998 all of her assets were changed from going to the three children, to only my sister. All these transactions occured in 1998. In 2000 she was judged to be incompetant (spearheaded by my sister).

Any thoughts on the legality of the stock acct? Any organizations that I may contact for help? Thank you

 

[advisor10]

4-3-2002

DEAR KJ1:

Looks like a greedy sister has tried to take over. IF she got your mother's permission and her signature on a power of attorney form, then the stock transaction might be legal (but keep that as your own secret and don't let your sister know this, unless you want to take a chance to ask her IF she had power of attorney).

If she doesn't have power of attorney, then you might have strong grounds for a lawsuit to recover that stock, based on the fact that she presented a forged document.

Approximately what was the total value of the stock in 1998?

If she took steps to become conservator or guardian of your mother's affairs, then she probably had legal advice on how to get the proper paperwork and authority to act, but she is still legally vulnerable if she committed some improper/illegal acts (which is what usually happens when people get greedy).

I'm not familiar with the laws in your state, but I just wanted to offer general comments about your case. Please send me an e-mail so I can pass on to you a confidential tip about your situation.

SINCERELY,

advisor (e-mail: [email protected])

 

[harringj]

As an employee at the firm in question, I am familiar with the form required to change the tenancy designation on an account. I also know that the firm keeps copies of such things.

Call the office where the account is held and ask to speak to the "Admin Manager" or his/her assistant. Explain your concerns and ask him/her to start looking into it. Let them know that you will be addressing these concerns in writing too but that you wanted to give the office a heads-up. And make sure that you do address the problem in writing. Brokerage houses are required by regulation to respond to written complaints.

The said form will be in one of three places: filed in the office, archived into storage by the office, or on an archival image system maintained by the new accounts department. If the form is in place one or three, you should be able to be provided with a copy of it in a matter of one or two days. If it is in place two, it will take a couple of months to dig it out and you probably won't get it without some kind of legal muscle to encourage the office. Based on the nature of your concern, if the form is in place one or three, I suspect that the office will be happy to show you a copy of the form that was signed. The aforementioned legal muscle is just because retrieval from storage is a huge pain, and no one will want to jump through the hoops.

If the account is no longer held, by a apecific branch and is now part of the "national branch" then call 800-MERRILL and ask for the complaint address. You probably won't get someone on the phone who has the authorization or power to help get you what you need.