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No Will, Travelers Checks Cashed

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icallaci

Guest
What is the name of your state? Nevada

I posted this in the Consumer Rights (Contracts and Guarantees) forum too, because I'm not sure which forum my question belongs in. I apologize if I shouldn't post to more than one forum.

My husband's sister died recently (March 21, 2003), without a will. Among her possessions, she had $1900 in American Express Travelers' Checks. A cousin was visiting in her home at the time she died. The cousin took these checks to a local AmEx office, showed a death certificate, and had the checks reissued in her own name. The cousin then cashed the newly re-issued checks. American Express says once the checks were re-issued, they cannot do anything about possible fraud unless we hire a lawyer. The whole estate isn't worth much, so hiring a lawyer would cost more than the estate is worth. But I hate to see someone get away with this kind of greed. My husband has a brother and another sister still living, so this cousin is not exactly next of kin. Is there anything we can do about this without hiring a lawyer?

Since the entire estate is worth less than $20,000, nothing is going through probate. My husband is in the process of filing Affidavits of Entitlement for his sister's mobile home, car, and checking account ($300). The only other assets his sister had were these travelers' checks.

Thanks,

irene
 


Dandy Don

Senior Member
There may not be much of anything that you can do about this without pursuing a lawsuit, either against American Express or against the cousin.

The mistake was American Express's, in paying out to a payee who was not legally qualified to receive this money. You have to wonder what were they thinking, since they probably have encountered the same situation before with a decedent who still possessed uncashed travelers checks. They told YOU it wouldn't be resolved without YOUR getting a lawyer, just to put the burden on you, when they know it is their own culpability and error that created the situation in the first place, but they don't want to come out and admit that they were wrong, since it could make them legally vulnerable.

You should contact AE and ask them to send this cousin a letter mentioning that they made a mistake in paying the cousin this money and asking the cousin to pay the money back to AE, who can then issue the money to the administrator/executor of the decedent's estate, although it is most likely that AE is going to continue to refuse to do this and to refuse to do anything to help you, since they are probably going to say its a private family matter between you all. I would at least write a letter of complaint to one of the corporate officials at AE just to see whether or if they would respond.

If they don't respond, then you should at least consider talking with a local probate attorney about exactly what charges could be filed at the local police station against this cousin (possibly theft or theft from an estate) or whether the judge or executor could issue a court order to the cousin asking for/or demanding the return of the funds.

Or, administrator/executor should send the cousin a certified letter asking for the return of the monies since they were officially an estate asset at the time of death, and if the monies are not returned you should threaten to file theft charges with the local police.

Probably isn't worth all the trouble it would take--maybe it's just easier to let the matter go. She's probably spent it all by now anyway.
 
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I

icallaci

Guest
Thank you so much for your response. I will try all the things you suggest (except possibly the probate lawyer, since that would probably cost more than the estate is worth). At least it might give the cousin a few sleepless nights in return for her ill-gotten gains.

Thanks again. I appreciate it.

irene
 

djohnson

Senior Member
Just curious if you know where they were reissued at? You may call the bank (probably where it was done) that actually reissued these. They require certain proof and if this cousins name wasn't on the death certificate as next of kin then the bank should not have reissued. They may be able to help you also.
 
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icallaci

Guest
Yes, it's taken some detective work, but we do know where these checks were re-issued and when. The death certificate does not have a place for "next of kin" but it does have a place for "informant." We live out of state, and my husband's sister died a few days after we returned home from visiting her in the hospice. The cousin was visiting from England, so because the cousin was the only relative there at the time, she is on the death certificate as the "informant."

When I called the American Express office that re-issued the checks to the cousin, the AmEx rep was very helpful at first, and pulled all the paperwork on the transaction, so I know they have the information we need. But when the AmEx rep discovered that she may have re-issued checks to someone who might not have been authorized to cash them, she clammed up and that was as far as I could get.

Are we out of luck because this cousin is on the death certificate as the informant? She is definitely not the next of kin, and she never mentioned that she had these checks and intended to cash them. We only found out because she does not drive, and the person who drove her to the AmEx office thought someone should know what was going on. It seems so stupid to make all this fuss over such a small amount of money ($1900), but I hate to see someone get away with such a sneaky, underhanded scheme at a difficult time.

irene
 

djohnson

Senior Member
Typically the person that is informant would be ok to pick up the checks but the bank should have made them payable to the estate of and gave them to the informant to place in the estate account. That is the way the banks here do that. I don't know why they would not. I think they know they have a problem.
 
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icallaci

Guest
Good, that is what I thought (that AmEx should have had a waiting period or issued them to the estate or something). I'm going to give this my best shot and see what happens. Thanks so much for the info. I feel like we have a fighting chance anyway.

irene
 

Dandy Don

Senior Member
It's very easy to see that AE simply assumed that the informant was the only surviving relative, but they should have checked further or asked the informant if there were closer surviving relatives like a husband or children, that would have qualified as legal heirs.

I'd like to correct what I said previously--instead of talking to a probate lawyer, you could also be talking to the police to find out exactly what this cousin should be charged with.
 
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icallaci

Guest
OK, I'll do that as well (talk to the police to see what we can do).

Thanks. You've been tremendously helpful.

irene
 

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