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Foreign bank won't return deceased Grandfather's assets

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Dirons

New member
California

My Grandfather died around 10 years ago and near the end of his life he fell for a lot of scams and tended to say yes to every proposition sent his way and one of them was investing in a German Bank. My father was the executor to his estate and the bank would not give him a cent. They asked for a death certificate, he provided that. Then they wanted something else (I forget what) and my dad did that too and pretty much they decided that they won't give up my Grandfather's money for anything less than a court order. It's 8,000 dollars in all and my dad isn't sure about hiring a lawyer because he doesn't want to spend thousands of dollars on legal matters if there's a chance that the German bank will screw him over again. My dad's at a loss and I'm wondering what is the best way to go about this. He could really use that money.
 


Just Blue

Senior Member
California

My Grandfather died around 10 years ago and near the end of his life he fell for a lot of scams and tended to say yes to every proposition sent his way and one of them was investing in a German Bank. My father was the executor to his estate and the bank would not give him a cent. They asked for a death certificate, he provided that. Then they wanted something else (I forget what) and my dad did that too and pretty much they decided that they won't give up my Grandfather's money for anything less than a court order. It's 8,000 dollars in all and my dad isn't sure about hiring a lawyer because he doesn't want to spend thousands of dollars on legal matters if there's a chance that the German bank will screw him over again. My dad's at a loss and I'm wondering what is the best way to go about this. He could really use that money.
Does the bank have a branch in the US?
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
California

My Grandfather died around 10 years ago and near the end of his life he fell for a lot of scams and tended to say yes to every proposition sent his way and one of them was investing in a German Bank. My father was the executor to his estate and the bank would not give him a cent. They asked for a death certificate, he provided that. Then they wanted something else (I forget what) and my dad did that too and pretty much they decided that they won't give up my Grandfather's money for anything less than a court order. It's 8,000 dollars in all and my dad isn't sure about hiring a lawyer because he doesn't want to spend thousands of dollars on legal matters if there's a chance that the German bank will screw him over again. My dad's at a loss and I'm wondering what is the best way to go about this. He could really use that money.
What, exactly, do you mean when you say your grandfather "invested" in the bank?
 

Taxing Matters

Overtaxed Member
Yes they do. It's Deutsch Bank.
I assume you mean Deutsche Bank. Whether the bank could be sued in the U.S. and in which state requires more information than you have provided so far to figure out. But the more fundamental problem here is that your grandfather died "around 10 years ago" which means that your father may now be out of luck due to the statute of limitations (SOL) even if the suit could otherwise be brought in the U.S.

Your father ought to consult a U.S. civil litigation attorney to see if there is now any action that might be brought in the U.S. for this. If the answer is no he needs to contact a German lawyer to see what might be done in Germany to address it. And in either case, one of the questions he needs to ask is how much it will likely cost to litigate it. Perhaps if the lawsuit is brought in Germany his legal fees might be recoverable. It is very unlikely that his legal fees would be recoverable if litigated in the U.S.
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
I'm still trying to figure out why the OP's grandfather's estate would be owed anything by the publicly traded entity based on an "investment" in that publicly traded entity.
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
I'm still trying to figure out why the OP's grandfather's estate would be owed anything by the publicly traded entity based on an "investment" in that publicly traded entity.
Maybe he bought the German equivalent of CDs.
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
Or maybe he paid a guy who promised a massive return on investment, so long as he got paid by Western Union.

Really, let's wait for the OP to reply
You really need to ask your questions more directly. You made it sound like you couldn't think of any possible investment that could have been made, where a bank would need to release the money.
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
You really need to ask your questions more directly. You made it sound like you couldn't think of any possible investment that could have been made, where a bank would need to release the money.
I should be more direct than: "What, exactly, do you mean when you say your grandfather "invested" in the bank?"

Please...
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
That was not the post I quoted and responded to.
I know. The post that you quoted and responded to was simply a reminder that there was a pending question for the OP.

Now that we got that out of the way, let's wait for the OP to answer the question, k?
 

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