Cashing a check as a guardian

K

khuynh79

New Member
Jurisdiction
Washington
Hello,

My girl friend is in a tough situation and has no idea what to do.
Here's the story.

Her mom is an elderly with Alzheimer's, living at a caregiver home.
One of the caregiver did some horrible thing to her, which that person got arrested and jailed.
My girl friend sued the home and won the case, settled outside of court.
Her lawyer took 40% and left my girl friend with a check with the remainder.
The check is under my girl friend's mom's name, with my girl friend as a guardian.
The lawyer no longer response to my girl friend asking how to cash the check.

The question is, can she cash the check and use it?
She is listed as guardianship for her mom, signing all papers and makes all the decisions for the past eight years or so.

We are in the state of Washington.

Thanks,
 
zddoodah said:
What happened when she went to the bank and asked this question?



Listed where/on what?

Is there a court order that appoints your GF as her mother's guardian?

The answer to your question depends on how you answer my questions.
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Probably wrong choice of word. Not listed.
She is her mom's guardian, has been for the past 8 years or so. All paper work through the court, and yearly renewal.
 
khuynh79 said:
Probably wrong choice of word. Not listed.
She is her mom's guardian, has been for the past 8 years or so. All paper work through the court, and yearly renewal.
Click to expand...
Then she knows that the money received is to be used for the benefit of the person whom she has guardianship over. She also knows that she can deposit the check in that person's bank account.

As a bit of a pedantic aside: The case was not "won", it was settled under terms that were (apparently) favorable to the plaintiff.
 
khuynh79 said:
Probably wrong choice of word. Not listed.
She is her mom's guardian, has been for the past 8 years or so. All paper work through the court, and yearly renewal.
Click to expand...

That covers two of the questions I asked. Please answer this question:

zddoodah said:
khuynh79 said:
The question is, can she cash the check and use it?
Click to expand...

What happened when she went to the bank and asked this question?
Click to expand...

If your girlfriend has her mother's court-appointed guardian for eight years, she should already have a guardianship account open and should have no difficulty depositing the check into that account.

If your girlfriend doesn't understand her responsibilities as guardian, she should confer with a local attorney. She will almost certainly be required to file accountings with the court, and it would best to have an expert to help guide her in that process.
 
zddoodah said:
That covers two of the questions I asked. Please answer this question:



If your girlfriend has her mother's court-appointed guardian for eight years, she should already have a guardianship account open and should have no difficulty depositing the check into that account.

If your girlfriend doesn't understand her responsibilities as guardian, she should confer with a local attorney. She will almost certainly be required to file accountings with the court, and it would best to have an expert to help guide her in that process.
Click to expand...


The bank tells her it's not their job to confer her on the matter and that she should seek a lawyer... Great, more lawyer to take more of the money... she thought. In the end, it's probably best to not sue the place, making these lawyers rich for probably nothing.

Anyways, she has no idea what's all involved with the guardianship. She had to go through with it to be able to sign the necessary documents regarding doctor visits, transportations, and other matter.

Thanks for all the info provided. Seems she's in way over her head and needs a lot of guidance.

Thanks all.
 
khuynh79 said:
The bank tells her it's not their job to confer her on the matter and that she should seek a lawyer... Great, more lawyer to take more of the money... she thought. In the end, it's probably best to not sue the place, making these lawyers rich for probably nothing.

Anyways, she has no idea what's all involved with the guardianship. She had to go through with it to be able to sign the necessary documents regarding doctor visits, transportations, and other matter.

Thanks for all the info provided. Seems she's in way over her head and needs a lot of guidance.

Thanks all.
Click to expand...
If she has no idea what she is doing, doesn't want to seek guidance from an attorney to find out her legal obligations for this roll she took on, then she should relinquish guardianship to someone who know what they are doing or at least cares enough to learn.
 
khuynh79 said:
The bank tells her it's not their job to confer her on the matter and that she should seek a lawyer... Great, more lawyer to take more of the money... she thought. In the end, it's probably best to not sue the place, making these lawyers rich for probably nothing.

Anyways, she has no idea what's all involved with the guardianship. She had to go through with it to be able to sign the necessary documents regarding doctor visits, transportations, and other matter.

Thanks for all the info provided. Seems she's in way over her head and needs a lot of guidance.

Thanks all.
Click to expand...
There is a lot more involved in being a guardian than signing documents for doctor visits, etc. After eight years, I'm more than a little surprised your g/f isn't more aware of what her duties/responsibilities are. She really needs to either educate herself (and yes, that will require a sit-down with a lawyer, IMO... whose fees can be paid from Mom's funds) or relinquish guardianship. I only hope that she has been abiding by the financial reporting requirements.
 
khuynh79 said:
The bank tells her it's not their job to confer her on the matter and that she should seek a lawyer...
Click to expand...

That makes no sense. She should walk in and say, "Hi. I'd like to deposit this check into the guardianship account I set up." What's difficult about that? If this is your way of telling us that she never set up a guardianship account, then she needs to walk in and say, "Hi. I need to set up a guardianship account." She should bring with her copies of the court documents by which she was appointed guardian. ANY legitimate bank will have no problems with that.

khuynh79 said:
Anyways, she has no idea what's all involved with the guardianship. . . .

. . . . Seems she's in way over her head and needs a lot of guidance.
Click to expand...

She needs legal counsel. As a guardian, she has legal duties and not figuring out how to fulfill those duties will result in bad things for her. Will it cost money? Yes, but it's not her money, and such is the reality of being a guardian.
 
stealthy1 said:
There is a lot more involved in being a guardian than signing documents for doctor visits, etc. After eight years, I'm more than a little surprised your g/f isn't more aware of what her duties/responsibilities are. She really needs to either educate herself (and yes, that will require a sit-down with a lawyer, IMO... whose fees can be paid from Mom's funds) or relinquish guardianship. I only hope that she has been abiding by the financial reporting requirements.
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Unfortunately her other siblings wants nothing to do with the mom once she shows signs of alzheimer's. My gf is the only one left that cares for her mom, come visit 2 to 3 times a week, even though her mom no longer recognize who she is.
Fortunately, she has friends that's gone through similar, and been through the guardianship, guiding her here and there. She has been tracking and reporting her mom's SS income and spending.

I told her she has no choice but seek another legal help.

Thanks everyone for all the answers and guidance.
 
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zddoodah said:
That makes no sense. She should walk in and say, "Hi. I'd like to deposit this check into the guardianship account I set up." What's difficult about that? If this is your way of telling us that she never set up a guardianship account, then she needs to walk in and say, "Hi. I need to set up a guardianship account." She should bring with her copies of the court documents by which she was appointed guardian. ANY legitimate bank will have no problems with that.



She needs legal counsel. As a guardian, she has legal duties and not figuring out how to fulfill those duties will result in bad things for her. Will it cost money? Yes, but it's not her money, and such is the reality of being a guardian.
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You are correct, she has no guardianship account set up. She's been using her mom's regular bank account. But she's been reporting of her mom's SS income and spending ever since.

She just showed me the check. Her name is on the check at the top, and in small print at the bottom, it says guardian of (her mom's name).
 
khuynh79 said:
You are correct, she has no guardianship account set up. She's been using her mom's regular bank account. But she's been reporting of her mom's SS income and spending ever since.

She just showed me the check. Her name is on the check at the top, and in small print at the bottom, it says guardian of (her mom's name).
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Why doesn't she just deposit it in her mom's regular account? Seems like a no-brainer.
 
khuynh79 said:
Unfortunately her other siblings wants nothing to do with the mom once she shows signs of alzheimer's. My gf is the only one left that cares for her mom, come visit 2 to 3 times a week, even though her mom no longer recognize who she is.
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And that is not unusual (wrt the siblings. BTDT). And while her Mom may not recognize who she is, mentally? Mom's heart knows she is someone who loves her. My Mom (luckily) recognized who I was (and my girls) 'til the end. But she'd tell my son-in-law "I don't know who you are. But I know you love me, and that makes you my family."

And, from experience? More frequent visits minimize the odds of abuse.
 

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