I live in the state of California.
7 years ago my mom suffered from a life-changing illness. My aunts (mom's sisters) persuaded my mom to get a divorce. They went to court and fought for the money. They ended up settling with around $250K. My mom then went to live with her sisters for a few years. What I didn't know until 7 years later is that she's been lying about who actually has the money. I wanted to make sure that the money that she got from the divorce was not being used by her sisters other than the cost it takes to take care of her. At this time I was living at cousin's house which is another house my aunts have been paying for. A few years go by and they force me to move out. Their reason was that it's time for everyone to go their separate ways and that there was no money left. That didn't make any sense to me. I was getting financial aid through school and giving this money to my aunts on a quarterly basis. On top of the money that my mom received from the divorce, she has been receiving social security and disability every month, which is more than enough for her and myself considering how we lived. During my time there, I only spent money that I received (birthday money/holiday money). I lived very frugally and tried to help around the house as much as I could.
Later on I got a case worker involved to find out where the money has actually gone and whether or not my mom's sisters took the money. For 7 years she has claimed that the money was still in her possession and that she had not given it to her sisters. After the case worker investigated, she spoke with my mom and my mom told the case worker that she openly gave the money to her sisters. I believe my aunts told her to say this. The case was then closed.
Fast forward, my mom was basically kicked out of her sister's house and put into a nursing home. My mom didn't like it there and asked if she could come live with me. Naturally, as a son, I would want to bring her in with open arms, but there's a lot more to that. I would have to take care of her and also need help with payments. I asked my mom if she could help me with the down-payment on a house I was planning on buying but she said that all she could do is give me the money she gets from social security and disability. I questioned her about the money from the divorce and she said she gave the money to her sisters. She said the day she went to the lawyers with her sister's 7 years ago, she signed away everything to them (her money, body, etc). If she did sign this, she signed this at a point in time when she was very vulnerable.
She told me if she could go back and change things around she wouldn't have given them the money. However, she also did explain how much she really loves her sisters. In my opinion, it looks as though her sisters have taken advantage of my mom. I spoke with my mom about getting the money back and she said to give her a week and she'd talk to her sisters. A week has gone by, I haven't heard from her, but I received a restraining order telling me that I am not allowed to go within 100 yards of her and I cannot call or visit her anymore. I am more than certain that this is something that she wouldn't do. She loves me too much to would ever let this happen. The problem is that I believe her sisters are exercising undue influence and telling my mom bad things about me (saying how I don't care about her, etc). There's nothing I think I can do to get through to her to let her know that she is being taking advantage of and this is tearing the family apart.
What can I do?
Keep in mind my mom is easily influenced by her sisters, believing everything that they say and I do not think she has the capacity to understand everything that's going on. Her English isn't too strong either.
I also believe my aunts are just trying to protect themselves and the money because they don't want me to talk to my mom about the situation, thinking she'd be convinced to tell the truth to a case worker or lawyer.
Thanks
7 years ago my mom suffered from a life-changing illness. My aunts (mom's sisters) persuaded my mom to get a divorce. They went to court and fought for the money. They ended up settling with around $250K. My mom then went to live with her sisters for a few years. What I didn't know until 7 years later is that she's been lying about who actually has the money. I wanted to make sure that the money that she got from the divorce was not being used by her sisters other than the cost it takes to take care of her. At this time I was living at cousin's house which is another house my aunts have been paying for. A few years go by and they force me to move out. Their reason was that it's time for everyone to go their separate ways and that there was no money left. That didn't make any sense to me. I was getting financial aid through school and giving this money to my aunts on a quarterly basis. On top of the money that my mom received from the divorce, she has been receiving social security and disability every month, which is more than enough for her and myself considering how we lived. During my time there, I only spent money that I received (birthday money/holiday money). I lived very frugally and tried to help around the house as much as I could.
Later on I got a case worker involved to find out where the money has actually gone and whether or not my mom's sisters took the money. For 7 years she has claimed that the money was still in her possession and that she had not given it to her sisters. After the case worker investigated, she spoke with my mom and my mom told the case worker that she openly gave the money to her sisters. I believe my aunts told her to say this. The case was then closed.
Fast forward, my mom was basically kicked out of her sister's house and put into a nursing home. My mom didn't like it there and asked if she could come live with me. Naturally, as a son, I would want to bring her in with open arms, but there's a lot more to that. I would have to take care of her and also need help with payments. I asked my mom if she could help me with the down-payment on a house I was planning on buying but she said that all she could do is give me the money she gets from social security and disability. I questioned her about the money from the divorce and she said she gave the money to her sisters. She said the day she went to the lawyers with her sister's 7 years ago, she signed away everything to them (her money, body, etc). If she did sign this, she signed this at a point in time when she was very vulnerable.
She told me if she could go back and change things around she wouldn't have given them the money. However, she also did explain how much she really loves her sisters. In my opinion, it looks as though her sisters have taken advantage of my mom. I spoke with my mom about getting the money back and she said to give her a week and she'd talk to her sisters. A week has gone by, I haven't heard from her, but I received a restraining order telling me that I am not allowed to go within 100 yards of her and I cannot call or visit her anymore. I am more than certain that this is something that she wouldn't do. She loves me too much to would ever let this happen. The problem is that I believe her sisters are exercising undue influence and telling my mom bad things about me (saying how I don't care about her, etc). There's nothing I think I can do to get through to her to let her know that she is being taking advantage of and this is tearing the family apart.
What can I do?
Keep in mind my mom is easily influenced by her sisters, believing everything that they say and I do not think she has the capacity to understand everything that's going on. Her English isn't too strong either.
I also believe my aunts are just trying to protect themselves and the money because they don't want me to talk to my mom about the situation, thinking she'd be convinced to tell the truth to a case worker or lawyer.
Thanks
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