dabears1020
New Member
Well I'm in a bit of a tough situation here regarding money that has been given to me by my grandfather over the course of many years. Every Christmas typically, my grandfather would give me a check for usually $10,000-$20,000. These checks where addressed to me, and not my father. Upon receiving these checks, my father would take them and tell me they were going to be saved for college like my grandfather had requested and that I could not spend the money at that time. Eventually the total amount given to me by my grandfather was $79,000, and all of this was in the form of checks made out to my name, but my father would them and deposit them in the bank.
Over the last few years my relationship with my father has deteriorated significantly, and I do not see him anymore, nor are we on good speaking terms. However, I would still think that legally this money would be mine. It's getting time to start preparing for college, so I inquired about this money recently, and was told by my father that there was no such money saved for me. He completely denied any knowledge of such money at first, however he has since changed his story to something of the effect of "your mother stole it."
I know my mother did not steal the money, as two years ago my father filed a police report claiming that she did indeed steal $10,000 from my bank account, however the following investigation quickly determined this to be untrue. My mother had the option of pressing charges against my father for filing a false police report, but she decided to let it go.
Another important note would be that my mother has mentioned to me before that every child support payment she gets from my father has been taken by my father from my bank account according to the bank records. He is also paying a significantly lower fraction of child support than he legally should be. Currently he should be paying my mother for 100% custody, but she is kindly letting him only pay as if custody were 60/40.
Obviously my father spent the money on his own, as $79,000 does not simply disappear. After a few emails traded with my grandfather, he did send a list of exactly how much money was given to me by him over the years (which is where I got the $79,000 number from). However, in this email he did state that "although it was wished the money would be used for college, it was up to the family to decide what would ultimately be done with this money."
I desperately need this money in order to afford any of the schools I would like to go to, and it seems the only way to get it at this point would be legal action. Do I have any legal grounds to stand on here? All I know is that $79,000 in checks made out to my name has since disappeared. My father was very quiet and secretive regarding the bank accounts it was supposedly placed into.
Here is what I DO have:
My current plan is to go to small claims court for the most recent $5,000, as I do have hard evidence that this money was intended for me and my education. If that goes well I may pursue further legal action, but I'm just really not sure how to go about it at this point due to the fact that I have no idea about any of the bank accounts the money was deposited in.
Any advice would be much appreciated.
Over the last few years my relationship with my father has deteriorated significantly, and I do not see him anymore, nor are we on good speaking terms. However, I would still think that legally this money would be mine. It's getting time to start preparing for college, so I inquired about this money recently, and was told by my father that there was no such money saved for me. He completely denied any knowledge of such money at first, however he has since changed his story to something of the effect of "your mother stole it."
I know my mother did not steal the money, as two years ago my father filed a police report claiming that she did indeed steal $10,000 from my bank account, however the following investigation quickly determined this to be untrue. My mother had the option of pressing charges against my father for filing a false police report, but she decided to let it go.
Another important note would be that my mother has mentioned to me before that every child support payment she gets from my father has been taken by my father from my bank account according to the bank records. He is also paying a significantly lower fraction of child support than he legally should be. Currently he should be paying my mother for 100% custody, but she is kindly letting him only pay as if custody were 60/40.
Obviously my father spent the money on his own, as $79,000 does not simply disappear. After a few emails traded with my grandfather, he did send a list of exactly how much money was given to me by him over the years (which is where I got the $79,000 number from). However, in this email he did state that "although it was wished the money would be used for college, it was up to the family to decide what would ultimately be done with this money."
I desperately need this money in order to afford any of the schools I would like to go to, and it seems the only way to get it at this point would be legal action. Do I have any legal grounds to stand on here? All I know is that $79,000 in checks made out to my name has since disappeared. My father was very quiet and secretive regarding the bank accounts it was supposedly placed into.
Here is what I DO have:
- A copy of an email from my grandfather sent in 2008 stating the total value of the gifts given ($79,000).
- A copy of an email sent from my grandfather in December 2007, stating he was giving me $5,000 for Christmas. In this email he explicitly stated this money was to be used for my college education.
My current plan is to go to small claims court for the most recent $5,000, as I do have hard evidence that this money was intended for me and my education. If that goes well I may pursue further legal action, but I'm just really not sure how to go about it at this point due to the fact that I have no idea about any of the bank accounts the money was deposited in.
Any advice would be much appreciated.
