Entire Family trying to cheat me

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My father recently passed away. He made me his beneficiary for his life insurance. I have just learned that my brother managed to have a document legally changed, making the Insurance place question my right to receive the money. They are hassling me endlessly, and I may be forced to hire an attorney. I am disabled, and really can't afford this. It hurts so badly, that my brother would do this to me. He was acting friendly and nice, but now won't even answer his phone. I also learned that my other siblings, and my mother knew about it, and didn't tell me what he had done. I am sick to my stomach from the stress of it all. I may never trust anyone ever again.

Lawyer time! Get right on it, before they kick you yo the curb.

Don't get stressed about this...don't react emotionally. I'm not saying that you shouldn't take an action on your behalf, but if this means stressing yourself out for the next year in litigation, the toll on your mental and physical self is not worth it.

Step by step, do some research re: getting the right lawyer. Decide if it's worth it to go ahead with a lawsuit. Some attorneys require no money upfront, but may take a bigger cut of the settlement.

If your brother really is 'robbing' you of what's rightfully yours, there's the practical aspect of getting your money through the courts, and then, the fallout from feeling betrayed by family.

What's a fair distribution? Do you want the money split evenly between all family members? What do you think is fair?

Get as many facts at your disposable before jumping to conclusions. First rule out the possibility of there being a misunderstanding.

Stay calm. I believe in 'karma'. Nothing is lost to the universe. If some evil is being done, do what you can to mitigate it, but if need be, leave people to their own karma. It may not seem fair, but it's better than being the 'thief.'

Take actions on your behalf, then let go of results...

It's easy to say not to get stressed about this, but I already am. I have been waiting for this money for a long time, and these people told me that there would be no problems, and that a check would go out this week. Now they are hassling me.

I have been considering legal aid, which is reasonably cheap.

I am not required to split anything with other family members. He named me the sole beneficiary because he couldn't trust the rest of them, sad but true. There is money left in his bank, which my brother was supposed to split evenly with the family, and hasn't.


Believe me, there is no misunderstanding. I got the facts straight from the funeral director. She said that my brother changed my father's marital status on the death certificate, and she believed him, so this was recorded as fact with the statistics office, thus impacting my claim. Now we find that he lied to them, but have no way of proving or disproving the certificate.

I consider this very good advice. It agrees with my beliefs.

My mother went through something similar (her brother cheated her out of an inheritance that was supposed to be split 50/50). It took a 7 year legal battle to get it, and most of it was gone by then. Take immediate action and don't be afraid to show your teeth. Remember that you are not in this to hurt the people who hurt you, but to get what is yours. If the need is severe, compromise, but do not fold.

Thanks. I think I know now, what ages people. It's betrayal from those that you thought that you could trust. I am playing back every conversation that I had with my brother, over the past year, and realizing how many ways he lied to me, while pretending to assist me! I will be contacting an attorney on Monday, to initiate this. I don't know how long this will hurt. I have hardly been able to eat, today.

*Ponders*

Can you have your brother put under a polygraph test to determine if he's lying?

Also, if you can get unaltered versions of the document and compare them to the altered one, should be possible to determine if it's a forgery.

Failing that...why not sue him for emotional distress, attempted fraud and...etc etc? Get your birth-right and screw him over.

And that is karma.

Regards
GM

Sorry to hear about the death of your father, Hartz. And the way your brother has acted. Just shows though, by your father making you beneficiary, that he didn't trust your brother either.
You do need a good lawyer to help you I think, it's hard to fight legal stuff on your own as it's a complicated area and has it's own jargon etc and this is so important for your future.

Some family members can turn treacherous where money is concerned. Sad but true. That is a tough one to get your head around, especially when people start acting in away which is different to how you'd expect.

I wish you luck! Try and look after yourself as much as possible during this stress, eat as well as you can manage, try to get enough sleep etc.

Hey Hartz!

The thing that you need is a sworn affidavit from the funeral home director, describing in chronological detail the actions of your brother that took place physically in her presence (spoken word and action). There are forms for affidavits specific to each state: http://www.ilrg.com/forms/affidavt.html . She has a legal obligation to provide this, as fraud was committed in her presence, which she admits. It doesn't matter what she believed to be the truth at that time. She should have had better sense than to make the change without checking out his claim first. She could be liable to you, in fact, for helping him perpetrate the fraud on you,
With this in hand, there should be no more nonsense from the insurance company.

Take care, sweetie; it'll be OK, promise.

YC

yep what yowling said.

The moment you prove in court your brother changed a legal document to provide wrong information any claim he has will be thrown out the window. He may even land in jail if you push a case against him.

Seems to me he gave you a very nifty ticket out of this mess.. and something to threaten him if he continues trying to rob your inheritance. He wont enjoy the money in jail I assure you. Fraud is what? 12 years jail time? nasty.

Yes, you are so right. It is hard to sleep or eat, during all this.

I agree, that she has probably made herself liable to me. I was astounded when she told me that he had just walked in there, two days after reporting the death, and changed my father's marital status from single to divorced. I asked her what documentation he'd provided, and she said none!

According to the funeral director, he asked her to change the status before she filed for the death certificate. This way, he made her commit the fraud. But it's her fault, because she didn't check his story. I think heads are going to roll, for this!

How I enjoy a good decapitation.

You can actually snag your brother by going easy on the funeral home director. Two birds with one stone and you get money.

Win-Win.

Regards
GM

That's terrible ! I don't know how you could even talk to any member of your family after learning that they betrayed you like that. I am going through something similar with my mom, so I can imagine how it feels. The only thing I can say is that you should lawyer up, take care of it as quickly as you can and don't hold back, because living under this could hurt you long term.

Don't be afraid to take what is yours.

I've always heard that "blood is thicker than water", but I'm not so sure I believe that. Money can truly bring out the worst in people, and situations like this are unfortunately common.

The only person I trust 100% is myself.