sister opened credit cards under mother's name (pay, dispute, accounts)
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My sister opened several charge accounts using my mother's name and social security number. This occured from 2008-2011. My mother recently died and I am the executor. What can I do? I shouldn't have to pay all these bills, but I can't prove it was fraud. My mother always had perfect credit...my sister ruined it. Also, she has diverted the mail to go to her after I changed it at the PO. No one at the PO will do anything about it.
If you have proof and want to get your sister to pay the estate back, talk to the local PD or an attorney. If you can prove it, maybe just the threat will get her to confess and deal with the issue.
You might have to call the police and report this. What she did is identity theft, and the estate isn't obligated for any charges she racked up using the stolen identity.
You might have to call the police and report this. What she did is identity theft, and the estate isn't obligated for any charges she racked up using the stolen identity.
but she did this before my mother died by forging her signature, etc. How can I prove it? I think she also opened a credit card under my father's name and he died years ago.
This happened to a very good client of mine. Almost the exact situation. His mother was very old and barely went out. His sister did the same thing. Forged her name and bought tons of stuff. Even junk from QVC and had it sent to her house.
What my friend did was did a forensic accounting of all the charges. The credit card company can help you get an accounting of all the exact charges, the time/day they were charged, where, if they were shipped....where they were shipped to. Heck, some stores even keep video security footage for a long time. They ended up busting her with all of these things.
She had things sent to her house, she was caught on video footage, etc. The only thing that seemed tough for him was that most credit card companies give you a limited number of time to report fraudulent charges and past that it's difficult to dispute it.
My friend was forced to either turn her in and press formal charges where she would probably have gone to jail. He didn't want to do that. But when confronted with all of these things, she ultimately agreed to take responsibility for it. They just subtracted it from her portion of the estate.
So you will be forced with the difficult decision to actually press formal criminal charges against her most likely. I'd do the forensic accounting if you are talking about a massive amount.
The first step will be to go fill out a formal police report so they can investigate. Just being mindful that once you do, you might not be able to stop the laws of justice from moving.
It seems to me that if your mother was confined to a bed or nursing home for any part of that time, you will have some recourse also as you won't be the only one aware of that. Like, if she was in the hospital, you have witnesses that she was there during a set period of time while someone else was out racking up charges at the local mall. You may have to become involved in some minutiae, but you probably won't have to account for every last charge. Also, how good of a job did she do forging the signature? Was it a dead ringer or can you tell the difference? It may help if it wasn't too close, esp when she signed for the charges.
Ugh, I can't stand people like this and my sis would have done the same thing but my brother had too tight of control on the books so she couldn't.
My sister opened several charge accounts using my mother's name and social security number. This occured from 2008-2011. My mother recently died and I am the executor. What can I do? I shouldn't have to pay all these bills, but I can't prove it was fraud. My mother always had perfect credit...my sister ruined it. Also, she has diverted the mail to go to her after I changed it at the PO. No one at the PO will do anything about it.
I don't know what the statute of limitations is on identity theft, but I would call the police and find out.
The whole situation is ridiculous. She was ordering from QVC daily under my mother's name. She also lived with my mother. Additionally, she kept taking my mother's debit card and getting money. The bank is aware of everything, but my mother wouldn't press charges and wouldn't give me or anyone else power of attorney.
The whole situation is ridiculous. She was ordering from QVC daily under my mother's name. She also lived with my mother. Additionally, she kept taking my mother's debit card and getting money. The bank is aware of everything, but my mother wouldn't press charges and wouldn't give me or anyone else power of attorney.
Yep. That's almost the same type of thing (except my friend's sister wasn't living with her mom but lived very close).
You know I always flip past QVC (I don't think I've ever had it on that channel more than 10 seconds at a time) and I always wondered how in the world buys this crap. But I guess there are a lot of addicted compulsive shoppers out there that will buy that junk.
The toughest thing in this kind of situation seems to be having to press charges. It's a difficult decision, especially after a loved one has passed away. It's horrible for the family to deal with.
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