But would you know a lawyer interested in the case, Random?
Jon, is that fancy new house where you are going to the party in Chicago’s western suburbs or out by you? Cuz if you’re coming to town…
Random, I had no idea you were a lawyer. Is it just that I haven’t been paying attention? That’s the default with me, anyway.
Just curious - does this mystery brother not know his brother died? Quite an odd situation. Astrangement of that degree certainly affects my opinion as to the injustice of his not receving an inheritance.
And what was the relationship between the deceased and the indiv w/ PoA? How do you know it was not the deceased’s wish that the bulk of the estate go to his friend rather than his brother?
Be vary wary of info gained via 2d hand.
I am not surprised at the police viewing this as a civil rather than criminal matter.
As noted above, IME skip traces are cheap and effective.
No, he knows he’s dead. But was told that his brother left him some token amount and (I’m told) believes that to be the sum total of the estate.
Let me test my understanding here.
Dead guy (whilst he was still alive) handed power of attorney to someone. Subsequently he dies, leaving an estate alleged to have been in the seven-figure range (I assume that all seven were to the left of the decimal point?)
Dead guy’s brother (henceforth “DGB”) received a “token” amount (from whom?) and believes that to be the total of the estate.
Guy with power of attorney (henceforth “POAG”) illegally transfers assets (not impossible), finds a will…and, not having read the Evil Overlord List, shows it to a few select people, at least one of whom is willing to gossip, and confides to them that he’s planning to destroy it Real Soon Now, thus keeping the bulk of the fortune.
The information comes from…who? Apparently not DGB, since you have no contact with him and he’s represented as not having the facts. Almost certainly not POAG, unless he’s even more clueless than he’s represented to be.
I’d endorse Dinsdale’s caution. There seems to be more than a faint odor of rotting red herring about this whole thing.
Oh yeah - its been a while since I probated my parents’ estate (in Cook County), but if there is a will, it needs to be filed with the court.
IME sometimes executors fail to do so if the will is essentially the same as intestate. Say a single parent leaves everything divided equally to his kids. It is possible such an estate could be settled more quickly without full-blown probate proceedings.
And it seems there ought to be a will for this non-relative POAG to inherit, because intestate it would go to the brother. In which case, POAG does not have the option of destroying the will
Unless the guy transferred title to himself while the dead guy was alive - in which case this is not a probate/inheritance matter. If the dead guy wanted to give everything he owned to the POAG before he died, leaving nothing for the brother, that is certainly his prerogative.
We had a somewhat similar situation. My wife’s grandma married again after grandpa died. Then grandma died, leaving her widower with a life estate, with the remainder going to grandma’s descendants. Well, this stupid old goat gets infatuated with some gold-digger (some young hussy in her 60s!) who proceeded to take him for everything he’s got, and then dumps him when he has pissed away the entire estate. It wasn’t 7 figures, but this woman got all of grandma’s jewelry, and had him buying her fur coats and brand new Lincolns (2 of them!) Precious little to be done about it.
Sadly, POAG has essentially bragged on the fact.
This all comes to me through POAG’s siblings. Who are also kin to me.
That’s why, at a minimum, I want the truth to come out. Either POAG can prove that he was the proper inheritor (which would be fine) or makes good and goes to jail.
It’s a matter of family honor.
And since we’re all family here… (and because lunch is coming up AND I’m poorly supervised today) Email me with the guy’s name and any info you might have.
John Kass at the Tribune. This is the kind of story he loves to go after. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-johnkass.columnist
Found him. Check your email if you haven’t already.
OMG HIS NAME IS GOOGLE!!!1!!! LOLOLPIMPROFLHEE!!!11! THAT IS TEH FUNNY!!!1111
Hmm… Probably not paying attention, if your impression is based on reading my posts. OTOH, if it’s based on real life meetings (at Dopefests or otherwise), I can readily see the source of your surprise.