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Tue 10 Aug, 2021 03:48 am
I will try and keep this as concise as possible but unfortunately it is a rather complicated affair.
Basically my son was found dead in Alabama last year, he had only been married for two months so leaves a widow and a daughter from a previous relationship. I would guess that he had moved in to his property about 2 years before, with his then girlfriend, she made no financial contribution to the purchase or upkeep of the house as she was not working.
The crux of this is that before he took up residence in this property I made him a transfer of £30K, about $36k to put towards the purchase, now he has departed his "wife" whom we have never seen in person, has acquired employment and is continuing to live in the property and pay the mortgage. I believe she has been to court to legalize this, I have never been asked by any attorney if I had any interest in the property, and being as we are living in Europe, we don't have much chance of "keeping an eye on things". My prediction is that the property will be sold on and she will disappear, in to thin air. Do I have any recourse as to getting my investment back, and also another £2k I subsequently lent him.
@sparkapuss,
Talk to your lawyer about this and be proactive. Stop waiting for him or her to ask you about anything.
@jespah,
Unfortunately I do not have a lawyer, as said I am in Europe, France to be exact, her lawyer has already sent paperwork to our granddaughter, in the UK, asking her to renounce any claim on the property. I just get the feeling that something is not right with the procedure, my late son was absolutely hopeless with money he moved to the US 8 years ago married some trollop who fleeced him of over £100K, before divorcing him after a year. His widow seems genuine at times but little things are said and done, she says she has no money but has employed another attorney to take out a law suit against a nieghbour running the HOA at $1500
@sparkapuss,
You don’t say if this was a loan or a gift. There should have been some kind of legal paperwork between you and your son about this money. ( loan agreement, your name on mortgage, quit claim deed, etc)
Remember: If it ain’t in writing, it doesn’t exist.
Does she even know about the 36k?
@sparkapuss,
Sorry for your loss. Besides all the advice given, please consider traveling to see your son's widow. She has also suffered a terrible loss.
@PUNKEY,
I think you have nailed it there Punkey, nothing whatsoever in writing, I would presume she would have known about the money, obviously I suppose I will just have to write it off.
@sparkapuss,
How close are you with your granddaughter? It’s significant that the lawyer has contacted her about the house. She’s the next surviving relative. Follow up on that.
Was there a will?
You need to speak up if you made that kind of a loan to your son. If you can prove a money trail to him, that might help you.
@PUNKEY,
No will, very close to granddaughter, but I believe she just signed the waiver and sent it back without consulting a notary. I can prove the money trail as it came straight out of my UK account and via Transferwise was converted to dollars in to his account, however I was told to describe it as a "gift" otherwise he would be taxed on it. Whether that was bulllshit I don't know, butI think I am up the creek without a paddle.
@sparkapuss,
Just checked the payments record $42,407, plus another £2500 to his widow for funeral expenses. I don't want to give the illusion of being the wicked wizard but God that's a heap of money to give away to someone we never knew, and could hardly be bothered to speak with us before all this happened.
Yes, a “gift” is not considered a loan or a lien.
Sorry.
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