Ask Me Help Desk - Lawsuit by Executor of Estate

My mother was Power of Attorney for a close family friend. Recently my mother and I have been named in a lawsuit, suing us for bankrupting the estate, theft of the estate, etc. We are absolutely innocent of these charges, they are unfounded and we have a paper trail to prove this. They are also claiming my mother had P.O.A. by deception. We contacted the attorney who did the will for this estate, he is wanting us to pay him a huge retainer to represent us in this matter. We asked him these following questions. #1 Can we sue for attorney's fee's and #2 Can we sue for deformation of character? He tells us we can not. I do not understand how a person can sue us without proof or cause. And I don't understand why we should not be able to countersue if found innocent of these allegations. We are absolutely at a loss as what we should do. The executor and her attorney is asking that our bank accounts be frozen, and all our other assets. Along with it. This will cause undue hardship, how can it be that we can not sue this executor if we are found not guilty in this lawsuit?

A law suit is not hurting your chacter, it is merely a law suit, if they are telling every in town and this action has hurt you finicially then you have a case for that.

Of course once the person died, the power of attorney ends, so you should have had no access to any of the persons money or bank account, so if you wrote any money at all out of the account after the person died, that was done improperly, only the administor of the estate can spend any of the money after their death. So if you wrote any money out after the death, that is what has to be explained and perhaps paid back, since after that point you were no longer authorised to spend money it would all go to the estate.

People sue people all the time, just because someoen sues you, is not grounds to sue them back, sorry it just don't work that way, if so, then they could sue you back again for suing them and so on.

Hello vic:

Being sued isn't grounds to sue them back. As a matter of fact, you weaken your case when you counter sue like that. Believe me, everybody wants to and lots of people do it. However, the court doesn't look sympathetically upon someone who thinks the courts are a shot at the lottery. They're there to be made whole, not get rich.

If you win, you could ask the court to award your attorneys fees. Depending on the case, the judge sure might.

excon

Quote:

Originally Posted by VIC486US

My mother was Power of Attorney for a close family friend. Recently my mother and I have been named in a lawsuit, suing us for bankrupting the estate, theft of the estate, ect. We are absolutely innocent of these charges, they are unfounded and we have a paper trail to prove this. They are also claiming my mother had P.O.A. by deception. We contacted the attorney who did the will for this estate, he is wanting us to pay him a huge retainer to represent us in this matter. We asked him these following questions. #1 Can we sue for attorney's fee's and #2 Can we sue for deformation of character? He tells us we can not. I do not understand how a person can sue us without proof or cause. And I don't understand why we should not be able to countersue if found innocent of these allegations. We are absolutely at a loss as what we should do. The executor and her attorney is asking that our bank accounts be frozen, and all our other assets. along with it. This will cause undue hardship, how can it be that we can not sue this executor if we are found not guilty in this lawsuit?

So, I guess the answer is USA is a sue happy country and it's okay to accuse without cause. I now understand why other countries call USA sue happy. I have always defended our country. But, if that's how it is I can't say I am lucky to be an American. It seems to me that things are more in favor of throw it against the wall and see what stick. Or I guess you could call it the shot gun effect.

Quote:

Originally Posted by VIC486US

So, I guess the answer is USA is a sue happy country and it's okay to accuse without cause.

Hello again, VIC:

No, but isn't that what you want to do by counter suing for nothing? I think it is.

If they don't have cause, they won't win. That's all. Pretty simple.

excon

And remember you have not given any "facts" of the case, often what you think is not case may be legal cause in court.

So you may want to be looking at that also.