Being slandered by siblings

[sambini]

Tennessee - I am involved in a situation where my siblings have been constantly telling lies about me in order to manipulate my mother. I had been efficiently managing my parents finances for about 4 years until just recently when my father died. At that time my siblings coerced my mother into changing all the legal documents in a manner that benefitted them financially. My positions as DPOA, executor, and trustee in their documents have been revoked and my sister and brother have been named in my place. They have repeatedly accused me of embezzling her money, trying to have her declared incompetent, being able to use my DPOA to sell her house without her permission, etc.. It would be pretty easy to show that they knew these were lies when they were being presented to my mother. I have confronted them on many occasions about their lies and have told them to stop but they continue to use it as a tactic to try and turn my mother against me (which they have succeeding in doing in many regards). Does liable and/or slander apply to this situation and can I file suit against my siblings if they continue with this conduct? While I hate to resort to this type of action their conduct has created a lot of emotional suffering with regards to my family’s relationship with my mother. Taking legal action and/or hitting them in the pocketbook seems to be the only thing that gets their attention anymore.

 

[tryingtoplease]

Let me take a shot in the dark here. It's not a legal answer but still a question near to my heart. Did your Mom get Survivors Benefits once your father passed (so sorry, btw, mine just passed too)? And was it a substantial increase, if before they were only getting Social Security?

 

[sambini]

Mom's income actually dropped several hundred a month when Dad died so now all she has to live on is SS and what I had managed to save of their assets (~$100K plus the house). Dad was in a nursing home for the past three years and going to visit him was her purpose in life. The siblings had been trying for the past year to get her to divide all her assets so the nursing home (when she goes there) wouldn't get it. I had always blocked their attempts to get to the money as that really is not that much once you start paying for assisted living or nursing home care. With Dad gone, mom was vulnerable and they seized the opportunity to get control of the money by manipulating her emotions.