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My childhood friend is looking after her 90 year old mother. Her siblings took her house, sold it. They took all her money and some properties, cottage. All worth millions. She was put in a home with no care there to die. My friend took her out and is fighting to get her mother's stolen assets back. My friend had to quit her job and took her mom out of this horrific home and is doing an amazing job looking after her. She got a lawyer and paid him $30K and it's been a year and he has done nothing but says he has done research. My friend had done all the research already. What can my friend do? She is like a sister to me and it breaks my heart that her mother is heartbroken and my friend's inheritance was stolen as well. She is physical, mentally financially drained.

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This is a case with already 30K paid to an attorney to work on the case.

You, as a friend, I am sad to say will have little power to make any real difference here.

I can only suggest you be there for your friend to listen with an open heart and soothing words.
It sounds like a perfect mess, and Dickens spent a lifetime writing about the vagaries of getting caught up in law cases over decades--over a lifetime.
There's an expression that is " Like Jarndyce versus Jarndyce" taken from his infamous novel Bleak House. The expression means "endless and hopeless legal entanglements."

I am sad to say not everything can be fixed, and if THIS can be, it surely isn't in your purview. You just have no power to wave a magic wand. Be there for your friend to comfort and listen. Again, I am very sorry.
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Reply to AlvaDeer
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Um, if the mother is still alive, how did the siblings steal everything? They need her signatures to sell her property. What do you mean she was put in a home with no care? You make it sound like she was dumped in a cardboard box. And if she paid a lawyer 30 grand with no results, she probably needs to get another lawyer and sue the first lawyer.

I agree with the others. We are not getting the full story. I have a suspicion that if we talked to the siblings we would get a vastly different story.
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Reply to olddude
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If she has spent $30,000 in legal fees with no results, she should just stop now because nothing is going to change and any further pursuit of this will just be throwing good money after bad. It's frustrating but your friend needs to realistically assess the situation going forward based on her own and her mother's current finances, not what they think the finances should be or could be.
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Reply to MG8522
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You cannot just put someone in a “home” to die. There are rigorous procedures that must be followed. And if there was “no care,” why would the siblings “put” her there? If they really wanted her to die, they could have left her at her own home with no care there rather than pay the “home” to *not* care for her.

It’s lovely that you want to help your friend. This is none of your business, and I fear that the situation has been exaggerated rather much, though your friend has taken on a difficult job and may be headed for burnout. Not much you can do about that. I’m sorry.
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Reply to Fawnby
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I'm sorry but there seems to be holes in your friend's story, starting with "her siblings took her house and sold it". They cannot do this unless the Mom gave permission and consented to it, or one of them was her other adult children was assigned FPoA and needed to sell it to pay for the Mom's care. If your Mom's house title was only in her name then there had to be a legal ability to sell it if it wasn't the Mom herself.

The Mom is 90. If she had cognitive capacity at all, she'd have been able to check herself out of the facility. If she was being neglected, your friend could sue the facility. If her siblings committed financial abuse, she'd also have a strong case. Maybe she doesn't have a strong case and this is why the lawyer is dragging his feet, using up the $30k.

If the lawyer can't help her, there's nothing we (private citizens, non-professionals) can do since the lawyer has all the facts and we don't; plus there is always the other side of the story that your friend is not telling you (family dynamics, etc). We don't even know what state this is all taking place in.

Please note that your friend didn't have her inheritance stolen if her Mom is still alive. This is about your greedy friend feigning concern for her Mom when she's concerned about her Mom's assets and an inheritance that hasn't even happened yet. Sorry. Don't lend this friend any money.
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Reply to Geaton777
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Since your friend has reached physical , mental and financial problems , she needs to have her mother placed in a facility . Your friend chose this and it’s no longer working .

There is no inheritance until someone dies . The family must have been paying for the woman’s care in the facility from the woman’s assets .

I suspect you don’t have the complete story .
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Reply to waytomisery
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