When I was 9 my father passed away and left me a IRA inheritance. When I was 10 my mother who was my guardian at the time pulled all the money out of the IRA and spent it on herself. She however never paid the taxes. I am now 24 and being faced with a tax bill of over $23,000 from my inheritance that I never even got. Do I really owe this amount or is there a way to have it put in my mother's name? What legal action can I take?

Hello Chelaw. Is this tax bill because your mother withdrew funds from the IRA, presumably for your benefit, and did not include the withdrawals in your income tax filings? I think you'll be hard-pressed to prove that the money was not spent to your benefit - any money she may have spent on your food, shelter, clothing, transportation, education etc while you were a minor are all fair uses of this money. It's pretty hard to account for how each withdrawal was spent going back 15 years, so it would be hard to make the case that the money was not used for your benefit. As for the taxes owed - assuming these are income taxes then yes, I'm afraid you owe the taxes. It sounds like your mother really messed up by not filing on your behalf as she should have. Again, I doubt suing will help, unless you can show she defrauded you by using the money for her own benefit rather than yours.

What legal action can I take?Hello c:

Go visit with a lawyer or two. You'll learn a lot and maybe find somebody who can DO something about it.

excon