Legal Question in Legal Ethics in Florida
being accused of fraud
Greetings:
a year and a half ago my daughter got a loan to finish her college studies. Her grandmother cosigned on it. Their were 2 places for her grandmother to sign. Grandmother signed the first,
promisory note as cosigner, because of time constraints my daughter signed the other paper for her granmother. the acceptance from of the loan. Grandmother said to go ahead and sign for her. they live some distance apart and time was of the essence. Year and a half later it's time to start making payments. Got her first bill in the mail, daughter made the payment.
my daughter Got a hostile call from her uncle (granmother's son) who happens to be an attorney claiming his mother never consented to be a cosigner. he's giving my daughter 48 hours to pay up the loan ($8,000) or he will file a police report. He lives in virginia. My daughter is in orlando. She can prove her grandmother signed the first signature. Based on this info, what options does my daughter have? thank you in advance.
--name removed--Berg
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: being accused of fraud
The options are 1) to do nothing and continue to make the payments on the loan as they become due; 2) pay the entire loan off to avoid "problems."
The threat as you related could be considered extortion under florida law, so if the uncle does report things to the police he may himself get in hot water. The Virginia Bar may also not look too kindly on his threat to obtain money either.
IF your daughter had authority to sign for grandmother, it is not a forgery.
As long as the loans are paid on time, my guess would be that uncle will not do anything . . . but I obviously don't know him. In my judgment, it would be extremely unlikely that the police would become involved and unlikely that the uncle would, on behalf of grandmother, sue. I don't know the people involved though so you are in a better position to guess what he will do if you just continue to pay as the loan becomes due.
Good luck.
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