DigitalKnight
Junior Member
What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Arizona
I apologize for the long post--I'll try to be brief. My fiance and I believe that over the last three years my fiance's brother has been involved directly or indirectly with their elderly mother's loss of what may be $50,000 to $60,000 in money, bonds and collectibles. We would like to know if any of this would be considered elder abuse/exploitation under the laws of Arizona (where the sone lives) or Pennsylvania (where the mother resided until mid-2005). I'll try to explain.
In late 2002 my fiance's brother (I'll call her Jane and her brother Bob) sold approximately 30 guns of various types and ages belonging to his mother, which several of Jane's friends with knowledge of weapons felt should be worth something close to $10,000 in total at the bare minimum--perhaps more. One was a rifle purportedly used in the battle at Harper's Ferry during the Cival War. Bob said he got $900 for ALL of the guns and split it three ways with is mother and sister. No receipt was ever produced and he would not say where he sold them. Jane was very angry with her brother and made him and their mother promise not to sell any more of their mother's belongings without letting her know of their intentions so they could all agree on the wisest course of action. She was concerned that Bob may be taking advantage of their mother's failing memory and what Jane felt (and still feels) was the beginnings of dimentia.
In mid-2003, Bob visited his mother in Pennsylvania (which he did two or three times a year, usually for a month at a time, at her expense) and convinced her to go to the bank and cash in bonds (half of which were in the mother and Bob's name and the other half of which were in the mother and Jane's name) that at the time were worth roughly $23,000. The receipt for the transaction from the bank shows $2,500 in cash came out before the money was deposited in their mother's savings account. Her mother doesn't know what happened to that money and has changing recollection of ever having cashed the bonds or why they were cashed. Nothing of note was purchased by her mother, so it's assumed the $2,500 went to Bob. Their mother does not have the ability to say "no" to his requests and demands. Jane's parents supported Bob (who is nearly 51 years old) for the last 30+ years, so this fit the pattern.
Jane didn't find out about the cashing of the bonds until her mother called her in tears wondering why she owed $4,000 on her taxes when she filed in early 2004. Jane found out through the accountant about the bond sale. Her mother didn't remember it. Jane confronted her brother, who said that he talked her into it to "shore up" their mother's savings, which already had $40,000 in it at the time, and that he didn't know what happened to the money after that. No one had even mentioned that more of the money was missing from their mother's account by that time ($18,000 was missing). Bob was not the least bit apologetic that he cost his mother $4,000 in tax burden due to the bonds. The year prior, Bob had stormed out of a meeting with his sister and mother because his sister refused to agree to let their mother put his name on their mother's bank accounts.
Worried about her mother's judgment and due to her failing health, Jane convinced her mother to give her durable Power of Attorney so that she could help manage her mother's affairs. She also arranged with the pastor of her mother's church in PA to provide a full accounting of her mother's finances if anyone should ever be concerned that she was acting in her mother's best interests. She worked with the bank to research her mother's transactions after the bond sale and found that she sent Bob a total of roughly $8,000 over a period of 18 months after the bond sale. Another $10,000 was withdrawn in cash over the course of the 18 months. Bob visited his mother twice during this time and knew quite well that their mother had a habit of hiding money under her matress and in various other "safe places" around her home. The only other person who had access to the home during this time was a family friend of 20 years who was the wife of a local church minister (Jane's late father was a minister as well).
On subsequent visits to Pennsylvania in 2005, Bob tried to get his mother to give him the interest earned by a CD Jane had talked her mother into investing in, which earned her mother several thousand dollars. He had no idea or care that he might have caused his mother further fees or tax burden. Fortunately, Jane had the CD account put in her's and her mother's name (in an AND capacity) so that her mother couldn't give away any more money, and warned the bank that he might try to get into their mother's accounts, so they contacted Jane the day he tried. Thwarted for the time being, Bob had his mother cash the $600 in traveler's checks she had with her and had her withdraw an additional $300 from her checking account. He didn't tell his sister about any of this, which caused her mother's account to come up short while trying to pay her mother's bills that month.
Jane's mother had lived with us in Arizona from November 2004 and was put in a group home in Arizona in October of 2005, in part due to the difficulty we were having trying to take care of her adequately by that time. We were also just simply burned out. Finally, in November of 2005, Jane was in Pennsylvania to auction off her mother's home and its contents so her mother would have adequate funds for her medical care and since her mother could no longer live alone or afford live-in care. She moved items she thought were of significant value into storage with the intent of liquidating those items as they were needed for her mother's care. While in PA, she discovered that a sizeable coin collection, estimated to be worth $25,000 to $30,000 was almost entirely gone. The chest it had been in was nearly empty, except for a small number of half-dollar coins. She found an extensive list of the coins in her brother's room in her mother's home and several Allentown area coin dealers circled in the phone book. She knows the coins were there and safe in November of 2004 when she brought her mother to Arizona.
We're painfully aware that some aspects of this were mismanaged on Jane's part. She acted as quickly as she could to the threats she perceived at the time, but we were naive and felt that we could convince Bob to stop trying to get at his mother's money. We know now that we were wrong and should have taken greater steps to protect her assets. At this point Jane doesn't know whether she should report the coins stolen and let the police find out what happened to them, or if she should just assume there's no hope in getting them back and try to salvage what's left of her mother's assets. She does not want to put her mother through the anguish of filing for guardianship or conservatorship, but is afraid that her brother will continue to be a constant threat to her mother's financial well-being. She feels it's time for him to grow up and take care of himself, but he is angry that the gravy train has been derailed and has threatened to sue Jane for all of her assets and for abuse of her Power of Attorney. As it is, their mother only has enough money to maintain her current state of care for another seven years, and if her condition worsens it won't even be that long.
Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
Regards.
I apologize for the long post--I'll try to be brief. My fiance and I believe that over the last three years my fiance's brother has been involved directly or indirectly with their elderly mother's loss of what may be $50,000 to $60,000 in money, bonds and collectibles. We would like to know if any of this would be considered elder abuse/exploitation under the laws of Arizona (where the sone lives) or Pennsylvania (where the mother resided until mid-2005). I'll try to explain.
In late 2002 my fiance's brother (I'll call her Jane and her brother Bob) sold approximately 30 guns of various types and ages belonging to his mother, which several of Jane's friends with knowledge of weapons felt should be worth something close to $10,000 in total at the bare minimum--perhaps more. One was a rifle purportedly used in the battle at Harper's Ferry during the Cival War. Bob said he got $900 for ALL of the guns and split it three ways with is mother and sister. No receipt was ever produced and he would not say where he sold them. Jane was very angry with her brother and made him and their mother promise not to sell any more of their mother's belongings without letting her know of their intentions so they could all agree on the wisest course of action. She was concerned that Bob may be taking advantage of their mother's failing memory and what Jane felt (and still feels) was the beginnings of dimentia.
In mid-2003, Bob visited his mother in Pennsylvania (which he did two or three times a year, usually for a month at a time, at her expense) and convinced her to go to the bank and cash in bonds (half of which were in the mother and Bob's name and the other half of which were in the mother and Jane's name) that at the time were worth roughly $23,000. The receipt for the transaction from the bank shows $2,500 in cash came out before the money was deposited in their mother's savings account. Her mother doesn't know what happened to that money and has changing recollection of ever having cashed the bonds or why they were cashed. Nothing of note was purchased by her mother, so it's assumed the $2,500 went to Bob. Their mother does not have the ability to say "no" to his requests and demands. Jane's parents supported Bob (who is nearly 51 years old) for the last 30+ years, so this fit the pattern.
Jane didn't find out about the cashing of the bonds until her mother called her in tears wondering why she owed $4,000 on her taxes when she filed in early 2004. Jane found out through the accountant about the bond sale. Her mother didn't remember it. Jane confronted her brother, who said that he talked her into it to "shore up" their mother's savings, which already had $40,000 in it at the time, and that he didn't know what happened to the money after that. No one had even mentioned that more of the money was missing from their mother's account by that time ($18,000 was missing). Bob was not the least bit apologetic that he cost his mother $4,000 in tax burden due to the bonds. The year prior, Bob had stormed out of a meeting with his sister and mother because his sister refused to agree to let their mother put his name on their mother's bank accounts.
Worried about her mother's judgment and due to her failing health, Jane convinced her mother to give her durable Power of Attorney so that she could help manage her mother's affairs. She also arranged with the pastor of her mother's church in PA to provide a full accounting of her mother's finances if anyone should ever be concerned that she was acting in her mother's best interests. She worked with the bank to research her mother's transactions after the bond sale and found that she sent Bob a total of roughly $8,000 over a period of 18 months after the bond sale. Another $10,000 was withdrawn in cash over the course of the 18 months. Bob visited his mother twice during this time and knew quite well that their mother had a habit of hiding money under her matress and in various other "safe places" around her home. The only other person who had access to the home during this time was a family friend of 20 years who was the wife of a local church minister (Jane's late father was a minister as well).
On subsequent visits to Pennsylvania in 2005, Bob tried to get his mother to give him the interest earned by a CD Jane had talked her mother into investing in, which earned her mother several thousand dollars. He had no idea or care that he might have caused his mother further fees or tax burden. Fortunately, Jane had the CD account put in her's and her mother's name (in an AND capacity) so that her mother couldn't give away any more money, and warned the bank that he might try to get into their mother's accounts, so they contacted Jane the day he tried. Thwarted for the time being, Bob had his mother cash the $600 in traveler's checks she had with her and had her withdraw an additional $300 from her checking account. He didn't tell his sister about any of this, which caused her mother's account to come up short while trying to pay her mother's bills that month.
Jane's mother had lived with us in Arizona from November 2004 and was put in a group home in Arizona in October of 2005, in part due to the difficulty we were having trying to take care of her adequately by that time. We were also just simply burned out. Finally, in November of 2005, Jane was in Pennsylvania to auction off her mother's home and its contents so her mother would have adequate funds for her medical care and since her mother could no longer live alone or afford live-in care. She moved items she thought were of significant value into storage with the intent of liquidating those items as they were needed for her mother's care. While in PA, she discovered that a sizeable coin collection, estimated to be worth $25,000 to $30,000 was almost entirely gone. The chest it had been in was nearly empty, except for a small number of half-dollar coins. She found an extensive list of the coins in her brother's room in her mother's home and several Allentown area coin dealers circled in the phone book. She knows the coins were there and safe in November of 2004 when she brought her mother to Arizona.
We're painfully aware that some aspects of this were mismanaged on Jane's part. She acted as quickly as she could to the threats she perceived at the time, but we were naive and felt that we could convince Bob to stop trying to get at his mother's money. We know now that we were wrong and should have taken greater steps to protect her assets. At this point Jane doesn't know whether she should report the coins stolen and let the police find out what happened to them, or if she should just assume there's no hope in getting them back and try to salvage what's left of her mother's assets. She does not want to put her mother through the anguish of filing for guardianship or conservatorship, but is afraid that her brother will continue to be a constant threat to her mother's financial well-being. She feels it's time for him to grow up and take care of himself, but he is angry that the gravy train has been derailed and has threatened to sue Jane for all of her assets and for abuse of her Power of Attorney. As it is, their mother only has enough money to maintain her current state of care for another seven years, and if her condition worsens it won't even be that long.
Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
Regards.