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wildandblue · Sep 4, 2008, 02:49 PM

Very convoluted story, so please bear with me: my Aunt and uncle filed a homeowner's insurance claim about some missing cash. This was in 1987. Aunt, who lost the money, has since passed away. Uncle remarried in 2000, but has also since passed away, leaving only his second wife in charge of his estate. While clering out his personal effects we found bank records from my deceased aunt showing checks--her missing money, $30,000 was taken by my cousin apparently she forged her mother's signature and her mother was very elderly. So my aunt and uncle were reimbursed by their insurance. If we now know or believe we do, who took her missing money: can the second wife file any claim on it or is it between my cousin and the insurance company? Uncle included us in his will, he had a prenuptual, but will we be forced to reimburse the insurance company out of his estate before it's settled? :confused:
Thanks in advance for your time and for any response

Fr_Chuck · Sep 4, 2008, 02:52 PM

The insurance company can file criminal charges if still within the SOL, or they can go after the person to pay it.
Since it was stolen, it is right for insurance to repay to a point but I am surprised they did not review her bank records and find who took it.?

JudyKayTee · Sep 4, 2008, 02:53 PM

Originally Posted by Fr_Chuck

The insurance company can file criminal charges if still within the SOL, or they can go after the person to pay it.
Since it was stolen, it is right for insurance to repay to a point but I am surprised they did not review her bank records and find who took it. ???

Beat me to it!

wildandblue · Sep 4, 2008, 02:56 PM

Well if we only just discovered it that would still be SOL I think it's 3 years?
Aunt was very secretive, did not tell her husband about her bank accounts. Just that she had lost her money
I'm wondering if since the person who the money was stolen from is now dead, does that then finish the theft case?

twinkiedooter · Sep 4, 2008, 05:41 PM

1987 is a long time ago. I think the SOL has run on this matter.

ballengerb1 · Sep 4, 2008, 05:53 PM

In many states there is no SOL on a felony such as embezzelment. Its really all up to the insurance company now and they are pretty good at getting their money back. Call them and share your info. "does that then finish the theft case" nope, the case is alive and kicking.

rockinmommy · Sep 5, 2008, 08:28 AM

Maybe Judy or someone will know the answer to this...

The money was really stolen, right? It wasnt' the aunt and niece in cahoots? If the money was stolen - regardless by whom - it was still a valid claim.

I would think the insurance company would still want the information, to try to go after the thief. But I don't see how the claim they paid on would change. It would be up to the ins. Company to try to recover the money for themselves.

Of am I way off base??

JudyKayTee · Sep 5, 2008, 09:50 AM

Originally Posted by rockinmommy

Maybe Judy or someone will know the answer to this........

The money was really stolen, right? It wasnt' the aunt and niece in cahoots? If the money was stolen - regardless by whom - it was still a valid claim.

I would think the insurance company would still want the information, to try to go after the thief. But I don't see how the claim they paid on would change. It would be up to the ins. company to try to recover the money for themselves.

Of am I way off base????

No experience in this but my legal beagle sense tells me that the money was stolen and the insurance company is out of pocket for that money and still has the ability to recover for its loss.

If they determine - or surmise - that the person who collected from the insurance proceeds actually benefited in this matter (kept the money plus got reimbursed and I have no idea what the circumstances are/were) I see this getting really nasty really fast.

My concern would be that the story sounds fishy, at best. I work for insurance companies. I had a piece of jewelry stolen. They interviewed EVERYBODY who had been in my house - there was no, "Well, my husband wouldn't know but ..."

Something doesn't make sense here. As I said, insurance companies investigate everything - I can't believe they didn't turn up a situation as described here.

wildandblue · Sep 7, 2008, 11:10 AM

Aunt had the money in a bank account still in her maiden name, money she had got from I think a pension, I know that much. And she was ruled legally incompetent in her late 70's, so she didn't know what happened. In fact my uncle had to put her in a nursing home after they lost all that money, which ended up costing many thousands he wouldn't have needed to spend. I actually feel grateful that they both died without realizing what their daughter had done to them. The daughter and her husband are always using one hard luck story after another, trying every get rich quick scheme or pyramid schemes, on welfare or on unemployment, trying to file small claims suits against people to get cash. I'm actually surprised we didn't figure this out long ago.
I tried researching this myself, they couldn't have filed an IRS claim because IRS doesn't let you have a deduction for stolen cash, at least they don't now, I don't know if they could have in 1980's.

ballengerb1 · Sep 7, 2008, 01:16 PM

I'd say just turn over every bit of information you have to the original insurance company and let them do what they do best, get money.

ScottGem · Sep 7, 2008, 02:08 PM

Let me sum up.

1) money disappeared from Aunt's bank account
2) Aunt put in a claim to insurance company for lost money
3) insurance company paid on claim reimbursing aunt
4) recently, documents were uncovered indicating aunt's daughter forged checks for the amount of the loss

Does that cover it? If so, then aunt and uncle were reimbursed for their loss and no further action on their part (or their estate's part) is possible. The proof of who took the money can be turned over to the insurance company and they can decide whether they want to pursue reimbursement, criminal prosecution or what.

wildandblue · Sep 8, 2008, 11:36 AM

Well is there a hotline for insurance problems like this? Because I don't know which homeowner's insurance company it was. Just the family story about how Aunt **** lost $30,000 in cash, just like your relatives are always telling and retelling family stories about their operations and their car wrecks. I know my uncle got really mad at his homeowner's insurance company because they raised his rates after that, he was going to drop his coverage entirelybut we all talked him out of that. I don't know if they will tell me anything if I just call up and start asking insurance companies. He's dead so he has no further right to privacy but I'm not an immediate family, just his nephew. I don't know if they will tell me anything.
Should I contact police dpt. Maybe they have a copy of the original police report he filed?
Should I contact an estate lawyer?
Judy you are right this is getting ugly really fast. Stepmother and the daughter got into a huge fight over the personal effects and she told her what we know. We all had asked her to keep quiet until we figure out how to proceed but she didn't. Now stepmom and other family members are receiving death threats from her, and she tried to get stepmother fired from her job.

ScottGem · Sep 8, 2008, 11:39 AM

The only thing you can possibly do here is get your cousin in trouble with the law. The insurance company has already paid so there is no money to pay. I would just drop it.

JudyKayTee · Sep 8, 2008, 11:42 AM

Originally Posted by wildandblue

Well is there a hotline for insurance problems like this? Because I don't know which homeowner's insurance company it was. Just the family story about how Aunt **** lost $30,000 in cash, just like your relatives are always telling and retelling family stories about their operations and their car wrecks. I know my uncle got really mad at his homeowner's insurance company because they raised his rates after that, he was going to drop his coverage entirelybut we all talked him out of that. I don't know if they will tell me anything if I just call up and start asking insurance companies. He's dead so he has no further right to privacy but I'm not an immediate family, just his nephew. I don't know if they will tell me anything.
Should I contact police dpt. maybe they have a copy of the original police report he filed?
Should I contact an estate lawyer?
Judy you are right this is getting ugly really fast. Stepmother and the daughter got into a huge fight over the personal effects and she told her what we know. We all had asked her to keep quiet until we figure out how to proceed but she didn't. Now stepmom and other family members are receiving death threats from her, and she tried to get stepmother fired from her job.

Just when I think MY family has "its moments," I read about someone else's family and think, "Well, it could be worse!" :)

I work with insurance companies all the time and know of no hot lines. If you have copies of old checks and old checking account statements maybe you can find a record of premiums paid - primarily the name of the company.

As a nephew I sincerely doubt anyone can or will tell you anything -

What a mess - I think I'd be happy not knowing about this situation... but you already do.

wildandblue · Oct 17, 2008, 12:18 PM

Well guys I spent a lot of time upset and angry about this business, and I'm really sorry to even share it with you. Why did this have to happen to us? But finally we decided to tell other family members who didn't already know it, and guess what? The daughter and her husband were in the process of trying to get $100,000 from another elderly relative who didn't know any better!!
The worst part is we learned at the same time she was trying to defraud this relative she was also bad mouthing the person online too, so it wasn't all that innocent, it was deliberate.
Please everyone if you have older parents or adults in your life, pay attention to who they are talking to just like you would monitour who your kids friends are or who they are talking to online. Like I said my uncle and aunt never knew what she'd done but we found it out in time or our family would have been much much worse off!!