My mother lives in the state of Texas. My sister has been stealing money, for her own personal gain, from my mother's mutual fund account by writing personal checks and forging my mother's signature.
When my mother found out what my sister was doing she called the bank and asked them to freeze the account and faxed a signed letter to them stating that her checks and card had been lost or stolen as of November 6, 2012. My mother told my sister that she would forgive her for what she has done if she would return to her all of her credit cards and checks that were in my sister's possession.
My sister agreed and returned most of my mother's possessions, but kept some of the checks, and she continued to write checks while forging my mother's signature on them.
Now my mother has recently passed away and I have advised the bank of the situation. The bank explained to me they could not communicate with me about any transactions or share information on the account until it enters into probate court.
Would I be able to take my sister to court over the money she has stolen from my mother's mutual account? Has she committed any criminal offenses?
1 Answer from Attorneys
It sounds like your sister may be both criminally and civilly liable for theft from your mother's account. From your description, it is not simply a case where your mother and sister had a joint account and your sister abused the privilege of accessing jointly held funds, but rather that she used fraud to access funds to which she had no right. The estate would have a claim against her in addition to any criminal charges. Be careful because those transactions would be subject to a statute of limitations based on when they occurred. Of course, if your sister is the type to steal, then I wonder if she really even has much money to go after in a lawsuit. That is always a consideration, because one doesn't want to throw good money after bad.
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