Is Anyone Here a Lawyer or Member of Law Enforcement?

[GabyKeepsMeWarm]

I've got a situation.

My dad died in May of last year, and I'm the executor of his estate. It's been a nightmare. He died without a will and sorting through everything has been an awful mess.

My father lived in Iowa, and he had a "companion" that he met online. I've been very skeptical of this woman from the outset, but how do you tell your 78 year old father he's being taken for a ride? His "companion" lives in New Mexico, and my father would go down to New Mexico during the Winter months. Dad bought a motor home and left it in New Mexico, giving her full access. However, the motor home was only titled and registered in his name.

Well, after dad died, I discovered this woman had the motor home retitled and registered in her name.

I've spoken to several lawyers, including the DA of the county in which the motor home was stolen, as well as the state police and local law enforcement, and I haven't gotten anywhere.

Law enforcement is calling it a civil matter, even saying that this woman claims my father gave her the vehicle prior to his death. It's incredibly frustrating. If her claims are true, which they are not, why did she wait until after he died to retitle and reregister the vehicle?

Every attorney I've spoken to is calling this a law enforcement matter.

It's like nobody wants to do their ****ing job, and I'm at my wits end about this.

Any advice?

[Demonpenz]

lets ride

[Balto]

Here's some bad advice haha

IF you truly believe that she forged your fathers signature on the new RV title and are just having trouble getting legal help. Just go ahead and forge yourself a Will stating that the RV and what ever else goes to you. I'd think that she would then have to then get an attorney which would be opening up herself by either letting the RV go OR trying to show her proof "Forged title". She might not want to do that and just give ut back.

[tyecopeland]

Originally Posted by NinerDoug

You need to get a hold of a copy of your father's title, that she submitted to the DMV, and check the signature.

A signature of an old person is probably not very consistent from one signature to another.

[Demonpenz]

Combo RIP would have snatched this for you

[Abba-Dabba]

Originally Posted by Balto

Here's some bad advice haha

IF you truly believe that she forged your fathers signature on the new RV title and are just having trouble getting legal help. Just go ahead and forge yourself a Will stating that the RV and what ever else goes to you. I'd think that she would then have to then get an attorney which would be opening up herself by either letting the RV go OR trying to show her proof "Forged title". She might not want to do that and just give ut back.

**** that. That leaves an actual paper trail.

Doubtful he gets the RV back. She has to leave sometime. Just have the ****er towed out to the middle of the desert and burn the ****er down. Unlikely she has any insurance on it.

[tyecopeland]

Originally Posted by the steam

Your father's signature had to be notarized. I would contact whoever notarized his sig

Why is this being thrown around? I can't say I've ever seen a title signature need to be notarized.

[TimeForWasp]

Originally Posted by Balto

Here's some bad advice haha

IF you truly believe that she forged your fathers signature on the new RV title and are just having trouble getting legal help. Just go ahead and forge yourself a Will stating that the RV and what ever else goes to you. I'd think that she would then have to then get an attorney which would be opening up herself by either letting the RV go OR trying to show her proof "Forged title". She might not want to do that and just give ut back.

Yes. Be strong and forge through this.

[stanleychief]

I'm wondering about another possibility. Let's say that you sue and win, and regain possession of the RV. Would this woman have a legal leg to stand on if she tried to sue for 'storage fees' for the last two years? I think a court might consider that reasonable, given that there was no benefit to her for keeping it there for your father.

[jettio]

Originally Posted by GabyKeepsMeWarm

I've got a situation.

My dad died in May of last year, and I'm the executor of his estate. It's been a nightmare. He died without a will and sorting through everything has been an awful mess.

My father lived in Iowa, and he had a "companion" that he met online. I've been very skeptical of this woman from the outset, but how do you tell your 78 year old father he's being taken for a ride? His "companion" lives in New Mexico, and my father would go down to New Mexico during the Winter months. Dad bought a motor home and left it in New Mexico, giving her full access. However, the motor home was only titled and registered in his name.

Well, after dad died, I discovered this woman had the motor home retitled and registered in her name.

I've spoken to several lawyers, including the DA of the county in which the motor home was stolen, as well as the state police and local law enforcement, and I haven't gotten anywhere.

Law enforcement is calling it a civil matter, even saying that this woman claims my father gave her the vehicle prior to his death. It's incredibly frustrating. If her claims are true, which they are not, why did she wait until after he died to retitle and reregister the vehicle?

Every attorney I've spoken to is calling this a law enforcement matter.

It's like nobody wants to do their ****ing job, and I'm at my wits end about this.

Any advice?

Did you get appointed as executor by the probate court and is there an attorney for the estate?

My thoughts is that if there is a probate case and you are the executor appointed by court order after you applied to be appointed, it is your duty to marshal the property that belongs in the estate and if someone is claiming ownership of property that you believe belongs to the estate, then you should file a contested companion case to determine if the property is part of the estate.

You should name the other person as defendant in the companion case and use subpeona power or powers as executor from the probate case to get the title history from motor vehicles and any other relevant records.

I assume if father did not sign over the title or name companion as TOD on a new title, then you would have a case to set aside any title procured by fraud or forgery.

Does Iowa let you get letters of appointment without an attorney?

In Missouri, you need an attorney to be in the case when you get letters of appointment and attorney would be the one taking the lead on deciding if a companion case would be needed.

[Yosef_Malkovitch]

I am a lawyer. My first thought when I read the OP is that most lawyers don't want to bother with this because there's not much money in it for them.

Not saying you (OP) have done this, but the amount of people who call up and "just want to ask a few questions about [their] rights" but have no intent of paying for my time is staggering. And I'm usually not inclined to put much effort into talking to them unless and until the clock is running and I'm getting paid.

A lawyer doesn't get a salary. He is paid for his time. Put differently, his time is what he sells. Every 15 minutes he spends talking to a non-paying caller is 15 minutes he's not getting paid for. It's literally like taking money out of his pocket.

Combine that with a (probable) low dollar case, and you're going to have a hard time getting anyone to seriously look into the issues and discuss them because they already suspect you're not going to want to pay them what it will cost to litigate. Simply put, they don't want to waste their time.

If you really want to get a lawyer to take a serious look into it, you need to start off the conversation by telling them you will pay their hourly rate for their time discussing it with you--regardless of whether you ultimately litigate or not. That way, if they spend time investigating and dissecting your situation and you decide you don't want to sue (which, to be honest, is probably going to be the outcome unless it's an extremely valuable vehicle), they still get compensated.

Just my 2 cents.

[Gary Cooper]

My guess is the father transferred her the title to the RV.

[TimeForWasp]

How much did it cost me to read that post Yosef?

[Yosef_Malkovitch]

Originally Posted by TimeForWasp

How much did it cost me to read that post Yosef?

[TimeForWasp]

Depending on the value of the remaining property, what if she were to go after the whole works?

[DenverChief]

Originally Posted by Yosef_Malkovitch

I am a lawyer. My first thought when I read the OP is that most lawyers don't want to bother with this because there's not much money in it for them.

Not saying you (OP) have done this, but the amount of people who call up and "just want to ask a few questions about [their] rights" but have no intent of paying for my time is staggering. And I'm usually not inclined to put much effort into talking to them unless and until the clock is running and I'm getting paid.

A lawyer doesn't get a salary. He is paid for his time. Put differently, his time is what he sells. Every 15 minutes he spends talking to a non-paying caller is 15 minutes he's not getting paid for. It's literally like taking money out of his pocket.

Combine that with a (probable) low dollar case, and you're going to have a hard time getting anyone to seriously look into the issues and discuss them because they already suspect you're not going to want to pay them what it will cost to litigate. Simply put, they don't want to waste their time.

If you really want to get a lawyer to take a serious look into it, you need to start off the conversation by telling them you will pay their hourly rate for their time discussing it with you--regardless of whether you ultimately litigate or not. That way, if they spend time investigating and dissecting your situation and you decide you don't want to sue (which, to be honest, is probably going to be the outcome unless it's an extremely valuable vehicle), they still get compensated.

Just my 2 cents.

Tl;dr juice isn’t worth the squeeze