Three days before his death his landlord entered his room and asked him to move thousands of dollars to the landlord's checking account. Our brother did as he was told, but due to heavy medications, he did not remember his acct number and according to the teller, he had to verify his identity with the maiden name of his mom. Our brother had committed all his financial info to memory and never missed a beat, until in hospice on heavy doses of morphine. We believe he was technically no longer the executor at that point, in favor of the succeeding executor-another brother. So we feel this was a crime against our dying brother. Are we barking up the wrong tree?
6 Answers
Helpful Newest
First Oldest
First
The landlord should have asked family, given them his bill. imo.
However, I have observed a trusting relationship between a facility admin. and their client, in which case, if this were the acceptable routine on how this landlord got paid, and brother was paying what he owed, then after asking more questions of "the Landlord", you will have discovered the truth. Crime, or no crime.
Goofifoot should provide more info, imo. It is Goofifoot who is asking if there was a crime against terminally ill brother. We do not know. We do not even know what Landlord, who is he, etc. That is why I suggested investigating.
The landlord asked his tenant to transfer money. The tenant did transfer the money, through his bank, which apparently conducted standard security protocols. The tenant himself may have been quite willing to do this, may have been intending to do it in any case.
It may have been that the OP's brother wasn't in fact in a fit state of mind. It may have been that the landlord leaned on him. It may have been obvious that the brother wasn't up to understanding what he was doing - or it might have been very far from obvious.
But the OP's family thinking in retrospect that this was unethical and that their brother can't have been himself and that possibly the trust should already have been in the hands of the brother's successor is no evidence that the landlord was at fault or even behaved unreasonably. People on morphine can appear to functioning as normal, and the request for money may have been legitimate. We *now* know that he had three days to live. That might not have been at all clear to an outside observer.
If the money wasn't owed and it was coerced out of the brother, then there's a crime - get the documentation together and take it to the police.
If the bank failed to follow its own procedures fully then you make a formal complaint to them.
At the moment, you feel hurt and disgusted at the way your dying brother was treated. On the face of it, knowing as we now do that he was so close to the end, it seems like an appalling way to have treated someone. But what do you want done about it?
Do you want the money back? Do you want the bank to respond? Do you want the landlord prosecuted?
ADVERTISEMENT
Maybe your brother owed the landlord past rent, and this was a crime to get his money. That does not make it okay.
Was this the landlord of the facility, or where brother lived prior to going into hospice?
I am sorry for your loss. No, you are not barking up the wrong tree. Investigate.
Report. Do your due diligence. At the very least, this is unethical of the landlord,
a crime against the elderly.
The teller in a branch of the bank?
A teller working in a telephone service (whom you've managed to track down how, then)?
The reason I'm asking about that is that it describes your brother's situation when he transferred this money. And if he did physically walk into a branch of his bank, I can't see your successfully claiming that he was unfit to manage the account. If he made the transfer over the phone there will be a recording of the conversation. I expect there is a way to get hold of it. But I'd have thought any claim you might have would be against the bank, not against the landlord, not unless you have any evidence of coercion of some sort.
The other important question is: was the money in fact owed to the landlord?
And, again, in any case there must be receipts, and if the payment was legitimate there must be invoices or statements too.
Has anyone been in touch with the landlord about this?
Like APS can have a person can be charged with “taking advantage of a vulnerable adult”; but the financial crime sounds like it was done to the Trust, which is its own legal entity. $ belonged to Trust, so Trust has to file a compliant. This is going to complicated & costly.
Trusts don’t have Executors, they have trustees and beneficiaries.
Probate has Executor.
Find an atty ASAP. I’d suggest you contact the law firm that did the Trust initially to see who they recommend.
As an aside, if your thinking the bank is going to refund the withdrawal, that is a likely as my getting back into my size 6 slacks, just not happening. Brother responded correctly to the questions required by the bank to pass muster. Could teller have done more? That’s something for the attorneys to wade through.