Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Florida

My brother just passed away and a lady he knew has hired a lawyer claiming she was his girlfriend and entitled to all of his possessions. She was helping him go through his health issues with cancer and had moved into a Mobil home next to him. His good friends and family were made aware by him that this woman was a gold digger and had tried to get him to marry him years ago (she went on to marry a much older man for his money) and now was trying to move back into his good graces by volunteering her help while he was sick. When my father and I went to pack up his belongs day after death this women produced a hand written note from my brother stating that 'if he was found dead' that she could do what she saw fit with all his belongings. The paperwork looked suspicious even though it had witnesses and a second page that had a notary signature. She started telling people that he promised to marry her and that they 'lived' together. She lived next door. She told my father that he needs to sign paperwork from her lawyer. My brother had bought a bike and car and titles are in his name alone, but he had given her his pin number from his bank account so she could run errands for him. She started depleting his account the day he died. We do not have the financial means to hire a lawyer and wonder if there is a legal way to contest her actions through the court system?


Asked on 1/20/12, 5:22 am

2 Answers from Attorneys
Richard Kaplan

You need to contact your local lawyers bar association to see if an attorney will handle this pro-bono.

Do not have your father sign anything without having an attorney review it first. It sends up a red flag that maybe she really can't clear title without it, and your father is really the legal owner. But with his signature, he may gift it to her.

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Answered on 1/20/12, 5:35 am
Lucreita Becude Lucreita D. Becude, P.A.

Please run to the nearest attorney and stop this girl. She will deplete his assets until there is nothing left. You can have the attorney subpoena the bank records to make her pay back the funds. If she really has an attorney - which I don't believe she does, then you need to get in touch with him and find out what he has done with this estate.

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Answered on 1/20/12, 7:55 am


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