Five CD's came due each with a siblings name and Mom's. Four made it into the trust, one took the money and won't return. What to do?

Thanks for your resonse. The CD's were set up as MIL or sibling, not MIL and sibling as far as signature goes. At the time, all siblings were on board and no problems were anticipated. The current trust has been ammended so the un co-operative sibling will receive no more assets. Seems they just wanted the money and have little concerm for thier mother. We were hoping there was some ground to stand on as far as getting the money back and into the trust. Lesson learned for the future. This person basically stole the money from thier mother with little concern for her well being, shamefull.

If they were held jointly, how could one of the siblings take the funds without your MIL signing off on her share? When cashed on maturity I would think the check would be made payable to your MIL and the sibling jointly.

I would have suggested the issue be addressed in the trust, but since it's for your MIL, I suspect that one of the siblings just didn't want to contribute but wanted the money for him or herself.

Will there be any provisions in the trust naming the siblings as heirs? If so, that sibling's share can be addressed and stated to be less by the amount of the CD, plus accumulated interest based on how the other CDs are invested under the trust.

So the sibling just gets less if he/she is an heir or beneficiary under the trust. If they're not heirs or beneficiaries, I'm not sure how you could get the funds back if the sibling isn't cooperating, but I still don't understand how one of two people named jointly can retain the funds w/o your MIL's consent. Perhaps you could explain, or perhaps I'm misunderstanding the situation?

Yeah, there's nothing you can do unless shunning works. She took the money legally. End of story. As you say, lesson learned.

As for Medicaid, if she needs it within five years of the misappropriation, there will be a penalty. I doubt you can do a thing about it.

I can't imagine why you set it up that way, frankly. In a divorce or a lawsuit involving one of your siblings? Your mom's money could easily have been attached.

Were there any discussions, correspondence or e-mails addressing the issue of creating the CDs that eventually would be funded into the trust, i.e., supporting the fact that they were eventually to be retitled in the name of the trust? That would be the only way I could think of to support the fact that the funds were intended for the trust. Otherwise, I think it might be an issue of interpretation, especially since the CDs were titled MIL or sibling.

The only other possibility is if the sibling eventually becomes ostracized from the other siblings and family members, alienated from the family, and decides to return the funds as a peace offering. Or, if what the sibling lost by being disinherited was greater than the funds received from the matured CD he/she might reconsider.

I'm not an attorney though, so there may be some other legal methods available, but I think the issue really turns on the fact that the CDs were titled MIL OR sibling.

Hard to advise without knowing what kind of amount you're talking about, so hard to know whether using an attorney would be a viable solution. On the other hand, when I read your story, the first thing I thought was that your sibling has a problem: drugs, alcohol, and/or gambling immediately come to mind.

I spent 10 years with an alcoholic (who I fortunately never married) and learned that when you're dealing w/addicts, it's all about them all the time. You cannot reason w/such people, and they'll only "care" if you all ostracize them when they need something the next time from one of you.

In the other hand, what goes around comes around.

Sorry for your troubles!

Thanks for all the responses. They were set up as MIL or sibling to be fair to all and some of the siblings live out of state too. This makes getting the signatures of the out of state siblings more difficult. The sibling who took the money has no other problems other than not trusting the other siblings. My wife is only trying to do the best for her mom. She is going to consult an elder care attorney about some other issues and ask about this situation also. Amazing how hind sight is twenty twenty visiion.