Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Illinois

I recently graduated from a university and started to pay on my loans when I realized my payments were outrageously high. Upon further investigation through the university I discovered that my mother had taken over $20,000 dollars of my student loan refunds. She used an old savings account from my childhood that I did not have access to down at school (4 hours away) and then transferred the money electronically into her accounts. She also received parent plus loans and got 100% of the money refunded to her in her name and deposited them into her bank accounts. I had no idea any of this money was ever refunded back until requesting an account history from my school last month when i noticed my loan repayments were too high.

I have done research for the past month to find out which refund checks I did receive into my account at school. I have statements from both of my bank accounts (both at home and at school) that prove that the money never went in to my accounts. I also have pages of documents from my university showing over $20,000 in refund checks that were cashed by someone, but never made it to my accounts.

I am meeting with my mother to discuss what I have found. After trying to get her help �find who received my money� and trying to get her to admit that she was the one who took the money, I have hit a dead end.

I need to know where I stand, from a legal standpoint, with this issue.

*If this doesn't fit into general civil litigation which category would it fit into.

Thank You


Asked on 7/24/12, 1:11 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Thomas Moens Moens Law Offices, Chartered

You could try explaining the situation to the student loan folks, but 1) that end would probably be "deader" than the one you hit with your mother, and 2) if they did pay attention, there may be some criminal liability against your mother they may be interested in pursuing. I would say your options are:

1. Let it go and pay the bill;

2. Have a clear discussion with your mother, and explain you know she took the money, and she will need to repay it; or

3. Sue her.

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Answered on 7/24/12, 1:59 pm


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