Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

You cannot file criminal charges; only the District Attorney can initiate a criminal case. You could contact your local law enforcement agency and file a report. The report will be forwarded to the DA, who will decide whether to file charges.

Before you act, please take a moment to ask yourself: do you really want to see your sister charged with a felony? Ten thousand dollars divided among sixteen people is only about six hundred dollars each. You may be very angry at your sister now, but getting her charged with a felony could ruin your relationship with her for the rest of your lives. There may be other ways to settle this family matter without getting the police involved.

For starters, you can not file criminal charges, you can only bring the case to the City Attorney or District Attorney and ask them to file charges, criminal charges are a city/sate/federal government charge against an entity and not person to person.

That being said, your roper recourse is to go through the Probate Court. As the executor of his estate, she was unde a duty to perform in the best interests of all the beneficiaries. If she was self-dealing, then she will be personally liable for damages.

Was there a will or trust? Was there real property?

If you want to provide more information, I believe I can assist you.

If you would like to discuss this matter further in a more private forum, please feel free to contact me directly at the email address provided by LawGuru or through my website located at PasadenaEstatePlanning.com

IMPORTANT:

No attorney-client nor confidential relationship is created through this communication. You may not rely in any way on this communication, and nothing herein constitutes legal advice nor legal opinion. Your issue may be time-sensitive and may result in a loss of rights if you do not obtain an attorney immediately.

By contacting the police and District Attorney where she lives, and in the location of the property, requesting they press charges. Hopefully, one of the agencies will help you. The family and beneficiaries also could file a civil suit or claim in the probate court handling his estate, to recover the money. If the probate and property is in Southern California, feel free to contact me for help.

Hi,

It appears as though you under the mistaken belief that private citizens can file criminal charges against individuals. This is not correct. The only way a criminal charge can be filed is through the District Attorney's Office and they decide when to file and what to file. Your options are to bring the situation to the attention of the District Attorney's Office in the county where the incident occurred or you can pursue the matter in a civil court, or in this situation in a Probate Court.

However, in your question you did not provide a lot of facts. You will need a lot more information before you proceed. You stated your father had a will. Do you have a copy of the will?, was there a trust set up?, You stated your father had 16 children and the funds were to be divided equally, how do you know that information? You also stated your sister made her house payment with the funds, how do you know that information and how much did she use? If she made a single house payment then the course of action you are inquiring into is not appropriate. You also stated the funds left after the house payment amounted to over $10,000.00. That is not a lot of money to divide over 16 people.

You need a lot more information in order to make an informed decision regarding your options. I suggest you gather the facts that you know, and write them down. Then re-read what you have written down and determine what you know to be true, without any additional information or input or guesswork from anyone else. Then determine how you know the information to be true. Also determine if what you know, is an actual fact or is some information you believe or think to be true. If after doing this you find you are not as certain about the facts or information you have, call your sister and find out what has happened. She has a duty to all of you to handle the funds in the best interests of the beneficiaries of the estate and not in her personal best interests. After you put your facts together, I suggest contacting a Probate attorney for a consultation. Explain the situation and get an opinion as to your options. This forum is really not the best way to get information specific to your situation. Even if you have to pay for the initial consultation it will be money used wisely in order to determine your actual legal position and your legal options.

This communication has not created an attorney-client relationship. The information provided is general in nature and is not legal advice and should not be relied upon. Some of the issues you inquired about may be time sensitive and your rights maybe lost if you do not act within certain time periods. I suggest you contact an attorney immediately.

Good Luck

Brian McGinity