rhenny's blog: "Education"

I have been away for the past week talking with lawyers and bankers.  My aunt as some of you know is nearly ninety and suffering from Alzheimer's and recently went to the hospital with congestive heart failure and pnuemonia.  This hospital stay caused some questions to be raised concerning the handling of her finances by my cousin who has power of attorney for her.  It now appears that my cousin has used her funds as if they were his own by making loans for personal use such as cars, home remoldling and in one instance to pay a judgement against him for hitting a pedestrian.  It looks like the amount he has used for himself may be between 48,000 and 80,000 dollars.  The amounts represent her being able to stay in her home with sitters from one to three years.  Based on our findings,  our lawyer has requested that he remove himself from all accouts belonging to her and that he present a detailed accounting of his tenureship of her accounts.  At the same time our lawyer has engaged an acounting firm to more fully go over her accounts and to find what we think are one or two more accounts which we think exist based on our talks with the bankers.  This are just some of the highlights of the past week.

I would not have thought that someone could do this to a family member especially this sweet Lady who always helped everyone.  Yet when she needs help she gets kicked in the teeth by someone she trusted.  I have fargone several family functions to remove myself from the temptation of beating my cousin to a pulp.  I just don't have words to describe how I feel right now.