Has anyone had experience with a sibling having undue influence over a loved one and financial exploitation over $300,000.00?

The police get things done.

You're quite welcome; I hope the steps you've taken provide relief and restitution.

Thank you both GardenArtist and ramiller!! So much...thank you for your support in every way, from the top to the bottom of my heart! XO :)

I am so happy they are both doing so well. The kitties will be so nice for them both. I cannot telk you how happy i am to hear you have made so much progress in going after these greedy ( fill in blank) so many times those people get away with it, not this time. If you are in SE michigan i could try and reach out to Jeffery Feiger, hes not elderlaw but he would love a case like this. I've even heard he does pro bono work. At any rate hit um hard, between thieft, tax fraud, elder abuse, they are going to be in a world of hurt. Keep us posted. Best to all of you.

Just thought of something else since you're in Michigan. The Elder Law of Michigan has a legal hotline and also provides various types of information on elder safety, food stamps, etc. If you have general legal questions and your mother is income qualified, you could get limited free legal advice. The ELM is an agency of the state government, not a for profit agency.

Thank you garden artist! Yes...once we get what we can from banks, financial attorney ( who, btw, isn't a financial advisor at all, or even a broker in the state of Michigan) Yes..I have def been doing as much research as I possibly can, the old lawyer as well as the new one...and it's all in the name of God. These are all people related to the church sil and brother attend. Grrr..so, we are aiting to see what my brother sends as far as taxes, which we already know he's going to send the bare minimum...so I did print out the 1099's from the IRS site. Just a matter of waiting...kills me. Next week I will get back in touch with aps, let them know what we have so far, what we are expecting to come by snail mail, and let her know we would like her to involve the State Police. I completely agree with all that you've written, thank you so much! When my sister wrote the letter to said brother, she gave him plenty of notice, and let him know, in no uncertain terms we are taking this as far as we can...even the State Attorney General...who is absolutely against any adult exploitation as well as special needs trust in my sister's name. Yes, one more thing, as you said...you cannot just delete things on your computer and think that that's it. She must know that...she' be foolish to try and start playing games at this point. The more they cooperate, the less red flags it raises...Thanks again for your input!! I'll let you know in a few weeks what's transpired..:) Have a great day..

Esjo, fraud is in fact a criminal act, so you should keep the State Police involved. You might also ask them if there's a task force on elder financial abuse with which you can share your mother's experiences. There may be a federal agency that could become involved and provide additional assistance.

As to "dumping" her computer...if you mean get rid of it, there are still ways to recreate online activities through the banks, etc. with which she may have had transactions. Their servers likely maintain data for several years. In addition, other financial institutions will have records of transactions made by the relatives. The IRS should have 1099s to reflect where income came from, then law enforcement can backtrace by contacting the issuing entities to get data on the transactions.

This is where law enforcement is necessary and would probably issue subpoenas (duces tecum for records), if necessary.

If she still has her computer, unless she has had the hard drive degaussed, simply deleting everything isn't going to erase the data, unless she completely fills the hard drive with new data and it overwrites the earlier erased data.

Law enformence has people who know how to recover deleted data. It doesn't just disappear unless it's been degaussed.

Hey everyone that replied to my post, Happy to say that things are moving along, slowly..but we're getting there little by little. Mom and sister are doing FANTASTIC!! We ( my siblings and I) don't dicuss the issue to much with them because it upsets them so. My mother cannot believe that by giving them POA, that they had the power to do what the did. That was not her intention when she signed it. She had no idea, or to what length having POWER over somebody has in POA. We have changed all necessary documents back to how it was originally before my father passed. Equally...other than my brother and his wife. We will be suing them, after retaining an elder law attorney (that's next) for the full amount due. We still don't know the full depth/scale of how much they took..but we're getting a better idea with banking info, annuities ( which they took out 112,000.00 in 2012 and in 2013 mom paid the IRS over 12,000.00 in taxes. Also, we found a loan for 40,000.00 that my mother took out and paid...she has no idea what hat was for. We are getting tax returns from the past 7 years on both of them. It will be 50.00 for each year, but well worth seeing what they hold in info. My sister, who is once again POA, the original, wrote my brother a letter, having my mom and sister sign it as well. Stating we wanted everything they have regarding the two. She gave him 2 weeks to comply. We will see. In the meantime we received a letter from sil, saying..."Is this what family does??" We couldn't believe it when we all read it. She even sent a copy to my nephew?? It wasn't very nice and makes her look REALLY BAD!! So..we are keeping all said materials together, so when we make our case, it will be solid. Lastly, we are waiting from the Athene company to send their paperwork, so we can change the beneficiary on that form. NOT soon enough. That is the annuity company. Once we get that, we are hoping to just take the annuity and put it in her new bank acct and let them disperse it as she needs it. Cscribe 2180, you had asked why mom and sister moved in with them after dad passed when she was, and still is of sound mind. Well, it was because she had never been on her own before...alone if you will. They had a couple dogs, a few cats, lots of room..so at the time it sounded somewhat ok to me...not really though. I had a lot of uncomfortable questions I was asking my brother regarding mom moving in with them. And ever since that time...I'm the bad guy, because I've learned from being a caregiver for 15 years, to take things with a grain of salt and advocate for those that don't know how to do it for themselves. My dad couldn't stand my sil, she couldn't stand him, but yet she felt SO entitled to TAKE everything he had built up for us as a family and take it. So glad my mom came to her senses after getting her off of her Namenda...she was like a zombie. Not anymore!! She plays cards with the gals in the dining room until 11;30 at night, she visits, and plays games, is doing a little bit of exercise...both of them...it is such a beautiful thing to see them both laughing and not having to keep anymore secrets. My mom said last week, she hasn't felt this FREE, like she was a slave, in a long time. Tears...Next up are 2 kitties...gonna head up and meet both sisters and mom at the Humane society in Petoskey and find a couple. It's a 500.00 fee to have 2....but it'll be well worth it I think...And my sister is talking up a storm...can't get her off the phone when I call now. Before it was just yep...nope...yep. Now she goes on and on about what they've been doing, who they've met. Amazingly awesome...And lastly, Llamalover47, the state police will have to be contacted by APS. We are fearful that sil, being a she did a lot of financial transactions online, could dump her computer and there goes the hard drive. And although we should be able to get everything in black and white..never can be sure. So...aps already said, once we get all the rest of paperwork, she has to notify them in order to help prosecute to the full extent...Cannot wait for that day!! Thank everyone for your thoughts and opinions on this...I really appreciate this sounding board...big time!! Thanks again...have a great fall afternoon!! Wish us luck...we're gonna need all we can get....XO :) E

I would not suggest getting the state police involved. What I would suggest is to hire an estate attorney.

If in the future mom should run out of whatever funds she has left and needs to apply for Medicaid to pay for a NH stay as she's at the point of needing skilled care, there could be an issue with the $ to the evil- ones. It will on the initial review by medicaid probsbly come up as "gifting" which will make mom ineligible for Medicaid. you may need to get a police report on all this as a theft or exploitation of elderly with charges filed to have the $ to them not be an issue for Medicaid.

esjoholm1, you are doing the right things, APS will guide you and you may want to get police involved. Also when you get tax info see a tax advisor, i have a feeling your brother may have tried to claim mom as dep on his returns which would be not allowed if she was paying him that much money to live their. And if they did not claim payments from mom on their taxes they could be in big trouble, that was income and should have been reported. Just some things to look for. Let us know how things proceed. I so happy mom and sis are doing much better.

Money turns family members into monsters sometimes. Good that you got your mother and sister in a safe place, now let the authorities do their job. You can only do so much, and as I have said before, let God take care of your evil relatives.

I'm curious: Why did your mom and sister stay with them when it seems your mom was of sound mind and could reasonably afford to leave (if she could afford $2400 per month in rent)? Why did she allow your brother and sister in law to change everything and take her money?

Not asking to be at all accusatory, I'm legitimately interested. I've been told time and again that if your parent is of sound mind there's not much you can do when you suspect a sibling is financially exploiting them. I've heard the "you may not like their decisions and they may be bad decisions, but it's still their decision" argument a lot from professionals, and it seems the only way to get anything changed is to embark on the costly and emotionally draining journey of trying to have your parent declared incompetent. Would really like to learn more.