Insurance Fraud case

[bobingeorgia]

What is the name of your state: Georgia

I am helping a friend who has been defrauded of insurance benefits. Her friend died in 2004 and named her as the beneficiary of about $40,000. They lived in MASS at the time. She moved to GA in 2006 and asked a neighbor for help on how to claim the policy. My friend has Aspergers which is a mild form of Autism. She gets confused a lot and is very trusting.

The neighbor took the info from her and nothing happened at the time (06). Fast forward to 2010 and my friend is filing late back taxes and the IRS tells her she owes tax on 9 grand of interest income from the settlement. We find out that in 2008 the neighbor forged her name on a notarized Power of Attorney and had a lawyer execute the claim. The insurance company mailed the lawyer the check for $49,000 and the neighbor forged her name on the check as signing it over to him and he deposited in his business account. At this time I do not know if the Lawyer was in on it or not. He is still in practice. We do not yet know here the neighbor is. I have his name and old address from 2006.

I contacted the insurance company and they sent us the claim form, forged POA and copy of the check with bank account numbers. The sig is close but its not hers. I was fearful she might of forgotten she signed something but its not hers. Also a lot of info on the claim form was incorrect especially the cause of death. We sent back a letter stating its not her signature and asking them to do a full investigation.

My question is what happens now.
What is the insurance companies obligation to her.
Will they conclude she did not get funds, cut her another check and peruse the neigbor and lawyer?
Is she out of luck of getting a dime.
Who else should we get involved.

I want to make sure the insurance company does the right thing but I don't know what that is. I want to go pay the lawyer a visit and ask questions but I don't want to impede an investigation

Thanks

 

[AlmostALawyer]

I'd probably get the ball rolling with the police. If the facts you have provided are correct, it sounds like a crime has occurred. Second, going to see a lawyer is a really good idea. They will know exactly what course of action needs to be taken to recover some or all of the money. Good Luck!

 

[Dandy Don]

If you are talking about visiting the lawyer who was involved, please DO NOT DO THAT, since it would only aggravate him and put him on notice that he will be investigated and therefore he would not cooperate in giving you any answers at all about this.

Is your friend with Asperger's mentally competent enough to handle her own finances now or does someone else do that (a payee or a legally appointed guardian)? If she is mentally competent, then your friend needs to talk to a family law attorney (whose area of legal specialty is handling abuse of power of attorney cases, which looks like what has happened here) to get the attorney to bring charges if the evidence warrants it. YOU technically have no legal standing in the matter so it would be best for you to leave it up to the attorney to handle everything. Thank you for helping out your friend in this matter so that she will not continue to be taken advantage of.

 

[bobingeorgia]

Is she competent? Are any of us financially competent these days? lol Hard questions. She works, has bought a car (repoed twice that I helped get back) but basically does not manage money well. The same neighbor has also committed identify fraud in a sense and ran up 40 grand in bills. Her credit is in shambles but at the same time she understands everything that has happened and why. She thought they were helping her. Her main problem is that she will do what anybody asks. If any of you walked up to her on the street and asked her to cosign a loan she would.. She will get in a strangers car or walk down a dark alley alone. She does not know what danger is and trust anybody. I have been helping her with her money and while I don't have physical control of it. I don't let her spend money outside of regular bills without asking me and I also make sure she pays her bills which she sometimes just ignores or has not paid cause she gave her money away. It's hard and weird to try to teach her to not trust anyone (including me) and to check everything I say and do.

Ok too much info probably

Does anybody know what the insurance company will do in a case like this. Do we have to try and recover from the perps?

 

[Antigone*]

Is she competent? Are any of us financially competent these days? lol Hard questions. She works, has bought a car (repoed twice that I helped get back) but basically does not manage money well. The same neighbor has also committed identify fraud in a sense and ran up 40 grand in bills. Her credit is in shambles but at the same time she understands everything that has happened and why. She thought they were helping her. Her main problem is that she will do what anybody asks. If any of you walked up to her on the street and asked her to cosign a loan she would.. She will get in a strangers car or walk down a dark alley alone. She does not know what danger is and trust anybody. I have been helping her with her money and while I don't have physical control of it. I don't let her spend money outside of regular bills without asking me and I also make sure she pays her bills which she sometimes just ignores or has not paid cause she gave her money away. It's hard and weird to try to teach her to not trust anyone (including me) and to check everything I say and do.

Ok too much info probably

Does anybody know what the insurance company will do in a case like this. Do we have to try and recover from the perps?

What kind of settlement was this? Was it a life insurance settlement?

 

[bobingeorgia]

Yes, It is a life Insurance case.

 

[Antigone*]

Yes, It is a life Insurance case.

Did she get an amount in excess of the life insurance benefit? Why was she taxed? Just curious.

 

[bobingeorgia]

Because her friend died in 2004, she did not thing to claim the policy until 2006 and it was not paid out until Feb of 2008. That's 4 years. So the 40 grand policy accumulated 9 grand in interest in those 4 years sitting at ING waiting to be claimed.

The IRS is trying to tax her on the 9 grand interest income from 2008

 

[Antigone*]

Because her friend died in 2004, she did not thing to claim the policy until 2006 and it was not paid out until Feb of 2008. That's 4 years. So the 40 grand policy accumulated 9 grand in interest in those 4 years sitting at ING waiting to be claimed.

The IRS is trying to tax her on the 9 grand interest income from 2008

Got it. Now she may be able to file a claim with the insurance company stating that she did not receive the funds. Depending on the time that has passed the insurance company might be able to file a breach of warranty claim with their bank for the forged endorsement.

 

[bobingeorgia]

That sounds promising, Thanks so much

 

[Dandy Don]

Her mental competence is somewhat in question here in that it is somewhat limited and that fact will help her in her legal battle since she most likely did not completely understand what she was signing. It's great that you are assisting your friend handle her finances, but you should be discussing this with a family law attorney to find out whether someone else (another friend--it could even be you if the court designates you as such--or trusted family member or a professional guardian) should acquire conservatorship over her and be LEGALLY allowed to manage her affairs so that she won't frivolously spend or lose the money that she is going to get from this settlement.

You should have gotten a signed power of attorney from her before you handled her finances, which would have given you legal authority to do so.

Your first step should have been to file a complaint with the police, and your next step should be to consult with a local attorney who specializes in "bad faith insurance" cases or cases against insurance companie, who will be able to handle everything for her, including contact with the IRS. This is NOT a do-it-yourself project, and your contacting the perpetrators yourself would be the WRONG thing to do as it would not be productive.

 

[bobingeorgia]

Her mental competence is somewhat in question here in that it is somewhat limited and that fact will help her in her legal battle since she most likely did not completely understand what she was signing. It's great that you are assisting your friend handle her finances, but you should be discussing this with a family law attorney to find out whether someone else (another friend--it could even be you if the court designates you as such--or trusted family member or a professional guardian) should acquire conservatorship over her and be LEGALLY allowed to manage her affairs so that she won't frivolously spend or lose the money that she is going to get from this settlement.

You should have gotten a signed power of attorney from her before you handled her finances, which would have given you legal authority to do so.

Your first step should have been to file a complaint with the police, and your next step should be to consult with a local attorney who specializes in "bad faith insurance" cases or cases against insurance companie, who will be able to handle everything for her, including contact with the IRS. This is NOT a do-it-yourself project, and your contacting the perpetrators yourself would be the WRONG thing to do as it would not be productive.

That's the thing. She did not sign ANYTHING. Her signatures were forged. Based on things she has told me I don't trust any of her family to help her. they have taken things from her also...yes, her own mother. It may be helpful for her to have a professional neutral advocate assist and advise her but fully taking over legally?...I'm not sure that's the right answer. I will help as long as I can but I can not guarantee I will always be here for her. Again, I have no direct access to her money

I do not think her mental capacity is at question. I understand the ignorance of what Aspergers is. I didn't know until I researched it. It is not full blown Autism. She is socially functioning. I have known and dated her for four years and I had no idea until she told me last year. It explained a lot of things. Shes aware of her limitations and hides it or mimics others well. Shes a little quirky, timid, jumpy, weird and submissive. All the things I like. She drives, goes on interviews and gets jobs. She is a computer Wizard and can fix anything. I can not see any court taking away her rights. As long as there is routine and no stress she is fine. But at the same time a thunderstorm or somebody yelling at her will send her into a fit that will have her in a corner sucking her thumb...shes 40. We all deal with fear in our own way. Yes she needs somebody that has her back and to help guide her. She needs somebody to take time and explain the pros and cons of things to her and she will understand. Otherwise she will bob her head and say yes or go along in an effort to appear normal so she wont be found out.

Again..too much info but shes a very cool loving person so its hard not to. I'm taking all advice into consideration. Even after explaining how people are using her and how she needs to take care of herself and take this settlement and invest it for her future she pipes up one day and says "when i get my money we can buy you that Mercedes you wanted? WHAT!!!! HUGH SIGH. But we just talked about......Oh man! Am I over my head in thinking I can teach her differently.

On Monday we will go file a police report with the documents we have and then seek the advice of a lawyer while working with and hoping the insurance company will do the right thing. Or course we don't have money to pay him up front so I don't know how that will work. It will also be a shame to have to hand over most of the settlement to him in payment if he helps us recover it. Judging from her past stories and paperwork I have seen she should easily be living off the interest of $500,000 that she has either been swindled out of or left on the table because it was too stressful to figure things out.

Thank you

 

[Betty]

I definitely agree that this should be run by a lawyer. The local legal aid society or local or state bar assoc. might be able to help with a referral to a no cost/low cost attorney.