To lose an inheritance might be a devastating experience, especially if it gets stolen by someone whom you trust. Whether the inheritance is taken through embezzlement, fraud, or with some other means, the stealing of the inheritance could leave you financially vulnerable and betrayed. If you are in this case, it seems pretty important to understand how to recover stolen inheritance.
Let’s dive into certain steps that tell you how to recover the losses and know about the person responsible and accountable for their actions. You could attempt to recover your stolen inheritance just by informing the alleged thief to return the property to the estate. If it fails, you can file a lawsuit against them, with which the convicted faces both civil and criminal penalties.
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Recovering stolen inheritance
If you truly believe that your inheritance gets stolen, it becomes mandatory to take quick action against it and make sure to recover it. Here comes certain steps that tell you how to recover stolen inheritance.
- Ensure to gather evidence and collect any type of document or any evidence that might be relevant to the case. The case would include trusts, wills, contracts, and financial statements.
- Contact the police if you truly believe that a crime is like fraud, you need to contact the police and report about it.
- Make sure to consult with an attorney, as a professional attorney could easily help you to understand the legal options. The attorney depicts you in any sort of legal proceedings that might be essential to recovering the inheritance.
- If the person who stole the inheritance does not face any sort of criminal charges, you need to take civil action to recover the losses. This activity is to file a lawsuit against that person or seek compensation via mediation.
In these situations, it’s critical to move fast since there might be deadlines for filing a lawsuit to reclaim your stolen inheritance. After hearing the tales, it is assumed that they have never experienced them. The truth is that some people steal other people’s inheritances. It’s critical to comprehend your beneficiary rights. Sadly, a lot of people don’t become aware of their rights until after they have suffered a setback. Continue reading to learn how to get your stolen inheritance back!
Considerations during recovering stolen inheritance
Whenever you meet with an expert attorney some essential questions need to be discussed. Those questions are who took it, what is inheritance when did it take place, and how to steal it? Let’s dive into every question in little detail.
What is inheritance?
Certain people assume that inheritance is cold and harsh, however, at most times inheritance serves as a physical property. Emotional things like paintings or household items that are passed down via family are also part of the inheritance. Moreover, if you possess a copy of the will that includes everything, make sure to provide it to the lawyer. The attorney requires an entire list of everything just to proceed with filing a lawsuit against the person.
Who stole it?
Knowing who steals the inheritance seems to be a vital part of the lawsuit. And, if you are not aware who is the person that stole it, a list of suspects is pretty essential. The list should include evidence that depicts why you think that specific person is the person who steals the inheritance. And, if you know who steals the inheritance, that needs to be noted to the lawyer quickly.
When did theft take place?
Theft entirely relies on the timeline that you offer, as the thief might be stealing your inheritance for some time. If some person has stolen your inheritance, it would entirely help your case if you offer every detail about how the person did it. If theft is executed by any family member it could result in harm and manipulation.
How did the person steal the inheritance?
To figure out how a thief steals your inheritance entirely depends on your timeline and documentation. To steal the inheritance from an old person, a thief would earn their trust before heading towards lying, deception, manipulation, intimidation, or forgery. The theft includes stealing jewelry and various other essential items from the inheritance.
Inheritance theft
Various situations could count like inheritance theft possesses more impact and seems to be much more evident than others. Hijacking or inheritance theft could be available in various forms.
- When the trustee, attorney, or executor abuses the office to make you unpleasant or to extort you on your behalf.
- When the trustee, executor, or attorney makes use of undue influence that makes you make certain unpleasant decisions.
- When the executor succeeds or attempts in stealing up the assets from the estate inventory.
- When the attorney destroys trust and will document for a certain reason, it is believed that they did it for ulterior moves.
- When the trustee succeeds or attempts with help of diversion trust assets for personal use.
- When the trustee or executor bills you greatly for the services.
- When the attorney, executor, or trustee gets engaged in certain fraudulent activity that relates to trust and will documents.
Inheritance theft could also occur in your family whenever a fellow beneficiary withdraws a certain amount from a bank account without your approval or knowledge.
Is it worth pursuing?
The first and foremost thing that your lawyer wants to discuss with you is whether it is better to pursue the case or not. If any loved one of your family passed away and has left some property or possession. For this case, a lawsuit seems to be the better option to make sure that justice is properly served. Let’s dive into certain things that effectively play a role in determining whether you should or not file a lawsuit.
Lawsuit cost
With any type of lawsuit, there comes a cost. You look for filing fees at the court, lawyer’s fees, and your time from work to get back your stolen inheritance. To help with your budget, make sure about how much money you will lose if you skip over your work for the ongoing court proceedings.
Inheritance value
The inherited value should satisfy your set value requirement in certain states. To pursue a lawsuit, you need an appropriate inheritance. But, the lawyer might end the case if the filing does not go up with these criteria.
Evidence to justify the case
Insufficient evidence might be a well-known hurdle whenever you try to prove your case. And, to win the case, you are required to undergo some sort of investigation just to gather the supporting documentation that you require to present them as proof. You need to show foul play that is involved, however, you need not worry about this. If your attorney that handles the estate engages with a specialist, then it becomes better.
Conclusion
Ensure that you own an estate plan that is entirely complete and appropriate is important to avoid stolen inheritance that allows you to stay out of court. Possessing your legal documents offers extra security for the property and tells you about how to recover stolen inheritance.