Ok here goes, will try to make this as simple as possible. My brother who was 53 yrs old moved in with my mother after a divorce. He didn't seem to want to work and was only employed part time. He has since passed away recently of cancer after a brief illness. A few months before he died he advised myself and a younger brother that he had obtained power of attorney over Mom's financial affairs. My mother seemed very afraid of this brother and he wasn't very kind to her. Although elder services was contacted by her Dr. and they were sent to the house he refused to open the door they said. They did reach her by phone and she refused services. It got to the pointg where she didn't want her other 2 children to visit her and when we went to the house she discouraged us staying and refused to come to our houses.
I had been caring for him the last 8 weeks when he was sick. I kept asking him to show me where our Mothers bank accounts were located and how to pay her bills as they were all online with passwords and i didn't know any passwords. He put this off until a couple days before he died. When i went in to try to figure out my mothers financial affairs. He had taken all her assets and liquidated it into joint accounts with his name on them. She had cd's and IRA's when my father passed away and these are all gone along with most of her money. The online activity on these accounts was very busy with cash withdrawals every few days of 260.00 and online transfers of cash to his accounts. When i found this out i confronted him and after a long time of denying he admitted to taking money saying she didn't need the money as she had no use for it???. He did return 25,000 to one of her accounts. When my brother and i had time to dig into the accounts there was alot more taken that 25k.
His power of attorney was not done correctly i don't think. He had no checks stating power of attorney. He would just sign her name to checks and credit card purchases. My mother has stated when i told her that her money is in her accounts that she wants it back. His money will now pass to his kids along with hers that her stole and the last transaction was from his hospital bed, he transferred 5k to pay his funeral expenses out of her account when he had 3 times as much in his accounts. He made his ex father in law executor of his will and he lives out of state. He hasn't spoken to this person in 9 yrs. I have advised the ex wife that there is fraud involved in the accounts and she isn't saying much.
My question is does my Mother have a chance of getting any of her money back. She does have short term memory issues as she is 84 yrs old but was not diagnosed with dementia. Any help in the right direction would be appreciated.
I had been caring for him the last 8 weeks when he was sick. I kept asking him to show me where our Mothers bank accounts were located and how to pay her bills as they were all online with passwords and i didn't know any passwords. He put this off until a couple days before he died. When i went in to try to figure out my mothers financial affairs. He had taken all her assets and liquidated it into joint accounts with his name on them. She had cd's and IRA's when my father passed away and these are all gone along with most of her money. The online activity on these accounts was very busy with cash withdrawals every few days of 260.00 and online transfers of cash to his accounts. When i found this out i confronted him and after a long time of denying he admitted to taking money saying she didn't need the money as she had no use for it???. He did return 25,000 to one of her accounts. When my brother and i had time to dig into the accounts there was alot more taken that 25k.
His power of attorney was not done correctly i don't think. He had no checks stating power of attorney. He would just sign her name to checks and credit card purchases. My mother has stated when i told her that her money is in her accounts that she wants it back. His money will now pass to his kids along with hers that her stole and the last transaction was from his hospital bed, he transferred 5k to pay his funeral expenses out of her account when he had 3 times as much in his accounts. He made his ex father in law executor of his will and he lives out of state. He hasn't spoken to this person in 9 yrs. I have advised the ex wife that there is fraud involved in the accounts and she isn't saying much.
My question is does my Mother have a chance of getting any of her money back. She does have short term memory issues as she is 84 yrs old but was not diagnosed with dementia. Any help in the right direction would be appreciated.
