Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Indiana

verbal agreements

my husbands first wife passed away leaving us 3 children. they each receive a s.s. benefit check which his ex mother in-law wished to place totally in a savings account. my husband agreed to open an account for each and use it only if necassary for the children. the mother in-laws' name is also on each account. my husband later decided to move the money to a different bank, and mutual fund accounts. now the mother in-law is screaming verbal agreement! what can she do?


Asked on 6/09/99, 10:38 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Re: verbal agreements

"screaming verbal agreement" you say? What do you / she mean?

Agreement to do what? Is she claiming that the money is there

for her benefit as well? If so, that agreement is illegal; it's

for the kids, right? and no agreement by their father could be

enforced to take money paid for their benefit, right?

Is she screaming that the agreement is for him to preserve the funds

for the kids? Is he planning to use some of it up (for them or whatever)

or just to reinvest it? Is there just a communications breakdown?

To whom is she 'screaming' anyway?

How was he planning to move the funds, via his guardianship over the

children?

What can she do, you ask? She can access (take) all the money out of the accounts if her

name is on the accounts. You probably ought to act quickly to prevent that. If the amount

is great enough and there could be trouble recovering it if she got hold of it, you

may want to go to court if necessary to get orders.

What city are you in? I know some good trust lawyers in Evansville I can recommend.

Stuart Williams

Law Offices of Stuart J. Williams

21 Walter St.

Newton, MA

02459-2509

[email protected]

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Answered on 6/10/99, 11:46 pm


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