Ask Me Help Desk - Bonds cashed illegally

Hi, I have a quick question.

My two brothers and I were left savings bonds when my grandmother passed away. Our names are on the bonds and then it says POD (Pay on Death) and has my father's name. Long story short, my parents divorced and my father knew someone at the bank who cashed the bonds for him. Now the IRS is after my brothers and I for taxes that weren't paid when the bonds were cashed. My father took the money because the bank allowed him to cash them. All the IRS wants is the tax money, they don't want to help prosecute. What recourse do we have?

Also, if anyone knows about trusts I would much appreciate any advice as he's taken money from our trust funds to pay for the divorce and also invested it in his own stock market account.

Thank you so much for any help or advice!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by CEH

Hi, I have a quick question.

My two brothers and I were left savings bonds when my grandmother passed away. Our names are on the bonds and then it says POD (Pay on Death) and has my father's name. Long story short, my parents divorced and my father knew someone at the bank who cashed the bonds for him. Now the IRS is after my brothers and I for taxes that weren't paid when the bonds were cashed. My father took the money because the bank allowed him to cash them. All the IRS wants is the tax money, they don't want to help prosecute. What recourse do we have?

Also, if anyone knows about trusts I would much appreciate any advice as he's taken money from our trust funds to pay for the divorce and also invested it in his own stock market account.

Thank you so much for any help or advice!!!

I don't know that this is a corporate tax question -

Has IRS been notified that you did not cash the bonds, that your father did? That's fraud and you did not benefit. I'm sure IRS isn't interested in prosecuting but who received the interest statement that year and was it addressed at that time?

You need an Attorney - once he invades trust money for non specified purposes he has committed a crime. Also someone at the bank should be held responsible.

I don't think you can handle this by yourself.

Thanks for your quick response JudyKayTee!

My youngest brother has been in touch with the IRS and they told him there's no way my father was able to cash the bonds.. so my brother went to the bank in the city where he lives (not where they were cashed) and asked for print outs from each bond being cashed. They clearly showed my father's signature. When he asked the bank manager about that the manager acknowledged that it was illegal. The manager then spoke to the bank's legal team and when my brother went back to talk to him, he said he wasn't able to discuss the matter.

There's a lot of money missing and my father knows that we have legal rights to it. He's told my youngest brother that if we try to prosecute he will make sure it's a 'pirate victory' meaning that we might win in court (legally), but we would have paid so much in attorney fees that we wouldn't have actually come out any better. He did the same to my mom during their divorce. The problem with finding a lawyer is that my father runs in those circles.. he knows all of the ones around town and can pull strings. I need a lot of help and I don't know where to turn.

You should contact an attorney to file suit against the bank and your father.

When you contact an attorney be sure to ask them if you could go to the DA's office and prosecute the bank and your father for fraud. Am surprised that any funds from a trust account was able to be withdrawn without a court order. Might want to throw that in for good measure as well. Someone at the bank is not playing by the banking rules and your dad apparently knows them and probably paid them well to do this for him. Bonds and trusts are set up so that people like him can't just skate off with the money.

Thanks for your replies twinkiedooter and ebaines!

I'm in the process of trying to find an attorney right now... just have to be careful so that I don't call one my Dad knows. One of my friends works for the DA as an investigator for insurance fraud and has given me the name of someone to speak with that can hopefully give me some idea of where to start. I don't know if I should pursue everything at once or just concentrate on the bonds right now. My father emptied a bank account during the divorce that had about $125,000 in it with my brothers and my name on it. As well as that we own a small piece of property and interest in land owned by one of my brothers, my father and I (our grandmother left it to us). Oil was drilled on that land and timber was cut but we never received any money from it. Sometimes I think that there's so much stolen from so many sources that it's gotten to the point that it's a lost cause. All my brothers and I want is what is ours, we're not trying to take everything that he has.

A lot of people think that we should take him for everything because he took all we had when he left... made us sell our house and for the longest time didn't pay alimony or child support so the church bought food for us. Out of spite he tried to have us taken from my mother and put into foster care (he didn't want us). The money he finally did pay into child support came from the trust funds and he's not paid alimony in about 7 years. He's a surgeon who has a nice house, swimming pool and new luxury cars. As angry as it makes me to see him 'living the life' I'm sure karma (or maybe his conscience) will catch up to him. In the meantime I just want to have what my grandmother intended for me, settle the IRS stuff and cut all ties.

Where do you think I should start with all of this? Also, is it going to cost a fortune to hire a lawyer? I spoke to one lady who wanted over $300 for a consultation fee. She then told me the next time I spoke to her on the phone that this wasn't the type of case she handles, she gave me the name of someone else I should speak with and funny enough it was one of my father's attorney's from the divorce case. I said 'no thanks, I'll find someone else'.

You just might have to retain an attorney from a different town as probably everyone in that town knows dad. Doesn't surprise me one bit as everyone is probably golfing buddies in the town.

As far as where do you start? You start all at once. Blast him with everything once you find yourself a good attorney. If you just piecemeal everything it will cost worse than a fortune. You need to consolidate the whole mess into one lawsuit using a good attorney.

Hmm, sounds like a plan. Plus I think if I do it all at once it will get it over with quickly cause I'm not looking forward to this at all.

I just wasn't sure if I could pursue it all at once or if some was civil and some was criminal.
At the same time we can probably go after the bank. As far as them cashing the bonds illegally and now getting us in trouble with the IRS (as well as losing the money) what do you think we should ask for from the banks in a court case?

Thanks again for all your help and advice!

OMG I really do wish you the best of luck and I hope that you and your brothers get what your father has taken from you. This is just NOW happening to me and my brother. My father just informed me that he cashed in all of my brothers and my savings bonds and spent all of our savings. He has been telling us for years that he was saving it for us for our college expenses and now I am in college and my brother is about to go, and he basically tells us tough s***. He told us he spent it on the divorce from my mom!! Le t me know how you make out. I'll be rooting for you!!