sibling stealing from estate

[jzedalis]

My mother in law passed just recently on may 11th. My father in law has short term memory dementia. It was previously decided among the family that the boys (3 of them ) would care for my father in law. There is a trust that consists of a cd for 120,000, some cash about 8,000.. Then my father in law has a separate joint account with my husband to receive his retirement checks. There was approximately 8,500 in that account, Since Moms passing the youngest and oldest daughter (of 6) decided to declare dad incompetent and seize hsi accounts. They did a pro se injunction without notifying any of the family. Filed papers on the 17th, got a hearing on the 22nd, then afterwards told everyone they were afraid for their life that is why no one was notified of the hearing until afterward. THe hearing FROZE the estate until June the 8th, and told her she could have temporary conservatorship of her dad. She failed to tell the courts he was already gone from the state. APS ad the police both knew where he was and had spoken to him prior to this law suit.. We have since obtained council for dad both in CA and in the state he is residing in. We had removed him from CA before any of this took place. My question and problem is, the youngest daughter somehow found out about the retirement account and on Saturday the 26th wiped out all the funds from all of his accounts including the trust cd. We are trying to find out how she did it to the joint account (with what documentation) She has forged documents prior so we thing she may have forged something again,. What are our options for getting the money back? Either from her, or from the bank? I feel the bank was responsible for maintaining the courts freeze on the accounts and should not have allowed any funds to be removed, Am I correct in this thinking? We tried reporting the theft to the police. They told us it was a civil matter. But this is grand theft. Can we get the fbi involved?

[Maryellen]

You personally have no legal standing because this is your in-laws. If your spouse wants to sue their little sister civilly they are welcome to do that. The FBI would not be interested because this is a civil matter. I would suggest getting in touch with the executor of the will.

[jzedalis]

ah well thanks for that, for what its worth. Oh and the kicker is, the executor of the will is a law professor who declines to act on his fathers behalf. He did ask everyone to drop the attorneys and figure out all the loose ends later. But we have a voice recording of moms wishes for dad to live with the "boys". I will let others worry about the money. I just refuse to let this man die in a nursing home when family members are available to care for him.

[jzedalis]

ps. I was doing the inquiry on the behalf of my husband, not myself. And he is asking in the background does that mean "if I entered my fathers bedroom and stole $130,000 that would be a civil matter not a criminal matter?"
He doesn't type which is why I asked.

[Friend In Court]

Theft if theft and the amount you list is grand theft. You need to file a police report; theft, forgery, embezzlement, whatever and as many counts as apply.

Then you also need to notify the probate court and have any and all orders they made set aside. Some probate courts are cavalier with people's rights and required procedures before declaring someone incompetent. The person has a right to attorney, trial by jury and many other protections before they can be stripped of their autonomy and a guardian appointed for them.

I would see a probate lawyer to have the proceedings looked into and any orders vacated. In most states when one is appointed as guardian, they are also required to post bond.