Any handwriting experts on the board........

[john pearce]

Probably not going to figure out my mom's estate with my sister so it means we are going back in front of a Judge I think next tuesday. Well we want to go in loaded for bear so my sister has a document that everybody says she made up but in reality it says all the money my mom gave to her and her husband was a loan.
On the document it looks like somebody wrote my moms initials and the date and my sister wrote " thanks mom I love you, loan paid in full". We aren't talking about $1,000.00, we are looking at between$60,000 and $80,000 so now I'm trying to find a hand writing expert to give this document to and also give that person a hundred or hundred and fifty other documents that show how my mom always made her letters to disprove what is on my sisters paper . Any help would be greatley appreciated. I'd even take some names if any of you out there know somebody who does this stuff. Many thanks in advance and Happy Holidays to all TF'ers and their families. Cell is 443-604-5205 Home is 410-870-3091

[ffnpt]

It's a damn shame you have to deal with something like this to settle an estate. Good luck on your search and God Bless.

[SeaNic]

That's way too bad... in addition to a handwriting expert, sounds like you need a good lawyer/PI to find out all you can about the 'situation' between your mom and sis....

[gotboost]

Can't help much...But I wish you the best...

[5th Tuition]

JP; wishing you all the best this holiday season. Sorry you have to worry about family troubles. I hope fishing gets you away from it all for a little while. 5th (Marty)

[john pearce]

ffnpt - there's one in most families, in our's it's our sister

SeaNic - allready have the lawyer covered, just need to get her document disproved'

gotboost - thanks

5th - I hope WX co-operates, I have a 5 day window for CBBT at X-Mas so I hope I get some fair WX or it might turn into a day run to OC or something.

[WiFiGuy]

So your sister went to your mom and was loaned some money. Your mom gave her the money as a loan and wrote up a document that detailed the loan. Your sister never repaid the money but now is claiming that she in fact did and is using the original loan doc as proof since it now carries a hand written "loan paid in full" with your Mom's initials next to it.

First off, I'm no expert in this sort of thing, but I can't imagine that the document that your sister has proves anything. Initials and not a signature? The hand-written message "loan paid in full"? Without a notary seal I wouldn't think that a judge would pay any attention to it all.

Also, if the loan was paid in full, then there has to be some record of the payment or payments. Unless you sister and husband paid your mom back in cash that was found in a well, then your sister should be able to produce some cancelled checks made out to you mom, i.e. $10K per month for 6 months, that would back her claim. Also, your mom's checking / saving accounts would also show the deposits roughly coming in at the same time that checks or withdrawals were made from your sister's accounts.

Where or how did your sister get the money to repay the loan? If she and her husband won the lottery or sold something they owned, then there would be some proof that they at least had the money at some point and COULD have paid off the loan. Again, there has to be something way more concrete than a hand written note that can be produced to prove or disprove what really happened.

Bank records will most likely be your sister's undoing here. She can fake a note and your mom's initials, but she can't fake or gloss over financial transactions to the tune of $60K to $80K.

I think I'd let her know that you're getting a hand writing expert and then I'd also remind her that fraud and perjury are serious crimminal offenses. The prospect of going to jail might set her and her husband straight.

These things are horrible to go through and I feel for you. My wife's mom saw something similar happen when her stepson showed up the day after his dad died and grabbed a ledger book that documented a bunch of loans made to him. He never said word about the loans to his brothers and sisters. He essentially did what your sister is trying to do to you. Though he got away with screwing over his own family members, his life since has been a mess. He's always broke, can't keep a job, has been foreclosed on, has tax liens, etc.

Good luck with all of this and hopefully everyone will get what is rightfully theirs.

[philk999]

John sorry to hear you are still dealing with this situation. The only thing I could think of is I would think proscutors use hire outside experts in fields like that for trials, maybe call the DA's office in your county and see if they can recommend some one.

[C-Hawk18]

SeaNic - allready have the lawyer covered, just need to get her document disproved'

John,

Your Lawyer should already know an expert, if he/she has handled many of these cases on a regular bases. If they do not have one, and you do not have 120% of your confidence in them from some other source, (personally) I think I may look elsewhere.

[Striper In]

Forensic Accounting..like Wifi posted...will be her downfall.

Sorry to hear about that family crap....hope 2010 puts an end to her BS for you and your family....

So your sister went to your mom and was loaned some money. Your mom gave her the money as a loan and wrote up a document that detailed the loan. Your sister never repaid the money but now is claiming that she in fact did and is using the original loan doc as proof since it now carries a hand written "loan paid in full" with your Mom's initials next to it.

First off, I'm no expert in this sort of thing, but I can't imagine that the document that your sister has proves anything. Initials and not a signature? The hand-written message "loan paid in full"? Without a notary seal I wouldn't think that a judge would pay any attention to it all.

Also, if the loan was paid in full, then there has to be some record of the payment or payments. Unless you sister and husband paid your mom back in cash that was found in a well, then your sister should be able to produce some cancelled checks made out to you mom, i.e. $10K per month for 6 months, that would back her claim. Also, your mom's checking / saving accounts would also show the deposits roughly coming in at the same time that checks or withdrawals were made from your sister's accounts.

Where or how did your sister get the money to repay the loan? If she and her husband won the lottery or sold something they owned, then there would be some proof that they at least had the money at some point and COULD have paid off the loan. Again, there has to be something way more concrete than a hand written note that can be produced to prove or disprove what really happened.

Bank records will most likely be your sister's undoing here. She can fake a note and your mom's initials, but she can't fake or gloss over financial transactions to the tune of $60K to $80K.

I think I'd let her know that you're getting a hand writing expert and then I'd also remind her that fraud and perjury are serious crimminal offenses. The prospect of going to jail might set her and her husband straight.

These things are horrible to go through and I feel for you. My wife's mom saw something similar happen when her stepson showed up the day after his dad died and grabbed a ledger book that documented a bunch of loans made to him. He never said word about the loans to his brothers and sisters. He essentially did what your sister is trying to do to you. Though he got away with screwing over his own family members, his life since has been a mess. He's always broke, can't keep a job, has been foreclosed on, has tax liens, etc.

Good luck with all of this and hopefully everyone will get what is rightfully theirs.