Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

My 22-year old niece lived with my husband and I for 6 months "to get her life together". She lived with her mother before whom had taken care of all of her EDD paperwork ncluding signing her name, so my niece had no clue how to properly get her checks forwarded to my home or how to properly fill out her claim forms. It took nearly 4 months before we straightened this all out. Because she had blown out two bank accounts, she consented to my husband signing and depositing the checks in our joint account. She moved out a couple of months later because she couldnt' deal with our house rules. She told my husband over the phone he could sign and deposit some more checks in his account to cover her past living expenses and we later gave her the rest of them. She later filed a claim with EDD stating my husband commited forgery. The document she signed stated she had no knowledge the checks were being cashed and she received no monies directly or indirectly for her benefit. That was a lie! This caused THREE of our bank accounts to be shut down including my daughters' college fund accounts. (BTW, I was not notified by the bank that 2 of the accounts were being attacked) Now, here's my question...If we are unable to get past the "forgery" claim with EDD and get our money back that way, what are our chances in Small Claims court to be reimburses for back living expenses (rent, utilities, etc)? There was no written agreement because she's my NIECE, but we verbally agreed on $300/mo for rent which she never paid. Also, we have talked to her on a number of ocassions. Her mother knows where she lives, but we do not..how can we even serve her if we do not know where she is?

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