Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Illinois

It seems as though a lawsuit against the brother and the custodian of the plan may be necessary. Your wife is going to have to sit down with an attorney and evaluate whether the amount of funds thought to be recoverable will be worth the time, money and aggravation of litigation.

Agreed. Usually this kind of problem arises when there are "joint" beneficiaries. Under the joint tenancy act, all joint owners are entitled to all of the property. There is nothing to stop one of the "joint" owners from cleaning out the account and I've seen it happen more than once. I suspect this is what happened in your case because these plan custodians are very careful about releasing funds where there is more than one beneficiary.