Legal Question in Criminal Law in Pennsylvania

Family Fraud

My brother and sister-in-law have used my mothers' credit and signed her name to buy numerous large purchases which now are unpaid and in collection. The debts are reporting on her credit report as derogatory but it isn't her. The family members have filed for bankruptcy and the debt has been left in my mothers account. The debt is worth more than the house she owns. She is 85 and may not be around much longer. Morbidly, this is what I believe the guilty were hoping for. How can I get my mother out from under the fraudulent purchases?


Asked on 4/07/07, 5:25 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
John Gibson John W. Gibson, Esquire

Re: Family Fraud

With situations like this it is best to work it out within the family, if possible. Of course, signing another person's name without their permission is forgery and you could contact the authorities but if your brother and sister-in-law don't have anything (and since they've filed for bankruptcy, they don't) then it would just make it more difficult for them to pay anything back and they likely wouldn't even try after facing charges, whether you were successful or not.

Sometimes people who file bankruptcy are down to their last dime and it may be that your Mother was voluntarily helping them out. The idea that they have profited from the purchases before the bankruptcy seems unlikely to me unless the purchases were of items that your mother owns since all assets of debtors have to be listed in a bankruptcy.

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Answered on 4/14/07, 2:44 pm


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