My dad did the same and took advantage of my grandfather after gramps lost his marbles due to dementia.
All it takes is a crooked lawyer. We could have contested, by why bother. Out of pocket for a bunch of money up front, to get some money.
Dad acted a fool, very paranoid, called my brother and I a bunch of names for nothing. But I think the worst was hiding my grandfather in a care home due to paranoia.
He blew through gramps estate in about two years. And is now in the process of selling off everything he purchased to make ends meat.
What really chapped my fanny over the whole deal, is he couldn't be bothered to share some of the photos and momentos.
Now he's a lonely bitter man whose kids won't have anything to do with him for how he acted, what he said and what he did.
Darren, you’re not alone. I think a lot of families have their black sheep. Mother named me to be her personal representative when she passed. Before that she gave me power of attorney to handle the sale of her deceased husband’s (my dad) interest in a small parcel of land on his original homestead. My aunt (my dad’s youngest half-sister) thought she had the sole right to that interest and tried to convince mother of it. It was offered for sale to aunt for well under appraised value. The aunt tried every trick in the book to talk mother into just giving her dad’s interest. Even telling mother it could not be sold to anyone else. What a bunch of crap! Soon mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer and given a few months to live. The aunt still tried to coerce the land from her. Catching mother at a very weak moment, they struck a verbal deal. I drew up the contract and had mother sign it and send it back to me as I would hand the deed over only upon full payment by sleezy aunt. With the deed in the mail to me, the aunt called me and said she had struck another new deal (for even less money) and I was to hand over the deed because she had already sent payment to mother. I said no way. All deals are now off.
The aunt sicced two lawyers on me and I held them off by not giving in to their demands and they finally backed off when the aunt’s lies came to light. Her third sleezy lawyer was worse and said I better meet her demands…..or else. Given that for a choice, I gladly took the “or else” option. After all her lies and deceit, a court date was set and I finally retained a lawyer. We removed the case to a higher court and told her lawyer he’s missing some very pertinent facts and documentation and he might want to challenge his client to provide the same to him. Apparently, she finally had to provide him that info because the day before the pretrial meeting her lawyer calls and offers to drop the case if we return the meager payment with an exorbitant interest rate and other fees. I said see you in court. A few hours later he calls again and said return her meager payment with bank interest and we’ll drop the case. My lawyer talked me into doing that to spare mother any more misery. Case dismissed minutes before the end of the business day prior to court hearing. But was this really the end?
A couple of weeks later at Christmas, my mother receives a letter from our aunt saying she should be ashamed of her and my actions and we’d both be going to hell. My mother died a week later from her cancer. I showed my attorney the letter and he said in all his 50 yrs. of lawyering he had never seen such an evil woman as my aunt. He sent a copy of the letter to her lawyer but we got no response. And my so-called aunt was a retired lifelong RN.
Two years later my dad’s youngest brother died (well to do farmer). This same aunt had drawn up his will for him and named herself the sole beneficiary of his close to a million dollar estate. This will had been drawn up and in place long before the aunt’s dealing with mother. Go figure. It’s a shame that in the dictionary under “devil incarnate” this aunt’s name and picture isn’t at the top of the list.
It took some doing to finally force the sale of that small parcel of land to turn dad’s undivided share into cash. Mother’s will had stated that the proceeds were to be divided up between all her grandchildren. The forced sale brought a bit of sweet revenge as that same aunt who had by now inherited my uncle’s estate had to pay $6K per acre for what mother had once agreed to sell for $2.5K per acre. (dad’s share of the parcel was just over 20 acres)
