Legal Question in Elder Law in New York

My grandmother is 82 and suffers from Alzheimer's disease and she made a lot of money in her life time and saved everything she ever made when she was younger. She has everything she owns paid off and has money in multiple accounts, savings, CD's, IRA's, etc. She married my grandfather who ended up being a thief. Under his name, he stole hundreds of thousands in cash by borrowing money with no intention of paying it back, stashing the cash and declaring bankruptcy. Now that his name cannot get him any money he is stealing from my grandmother. Her savings are being cleaned out and he has possession of her debit card, credit cards, and has full access to all her accounts. He also takes her pension and social security check monthly and spends it. He does keep track of the bills but we know he is hiding her money somewhere. I mentioned before that the house is paid off but this week there was an unheard message on the phone machine saying there was a request for information about reverse mortgages. My grandmother fully paid off the house and if she was all together she would not want it other any circumstances. They can both afford the bills and they are doing pretty well on what they live on so I know this reverse mortgage is so he can take all the money and stash it somewhere and probably desert my grandmother because he has talked about it. He never put any money into the house and he met my grandmother when she had a house so all he did was move on. The house is not in his name and the will says that I will be the one that will have full ownership of the house when she is dead. Since I am not her husband and my name isn't on the house right now is there a way I can block him from reverse mortgaging the house, accessing her savings, and maybe put a limit on what can be withdrawn from her account monthly. I really doubt I have any power in this and this needs to happen. She doesn't believe my mother nor I and she trusts him because she doesn't remember that he stole from her in the past. She will sign probably anything and he is a skilled liar.


Asked on 5/31/13, 1:03 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Richard Bryan Richard Bryan Attorney PC

You need to file a Petition for Guardianship immediately to stop the financial abuse. It's really not something you can do on your own; you almost certainly have to see a lawyer. These cases receive the highest priority at the courthouse and within a relatively short period of time the court will get to the bottom of what is going on, and make him give back the money.

Read more
Answered on 5/31/13, 2:16 pm


Related Questions & Answers

More Elder Law questions and answers in New York