Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Utah

My brother who is 44 has lived with my parents all his life and five years ago he got married (never had a girlfriend before) and they moved into his room in my parents house. Things were a little tense but not bad and the plan was always that he would help with the mortgage and when my parents passed he would get the home. My mom passed in March and we discovered that she had (without telling my dad) bailed my brother out several times by taking loans against the house. We confronted him and hashed things out and he was to start to pay back the money over time in addition to his prior agreement to help with the mortgage etc. We also discovered that he was not paying anything towards the utilities either. A week ago my dad called to say he went into their bedroom and discovered boxes packed. Last night he called and said they were moving out right then. They are moving into the basement of a friend and leaving my dad high and dry on the utilities, phone and upkeep. He plans on helping with the mortgage (he says) but my Dad will be hard pressed to cover everything else. Do we have any recourse against him at this point since there was a verbal agreement that he would live there until both my parents were gone that is until he got married and his wife does not want to live in the same house with my dad. They both spend money with no regard to the future while the rest of us struggle just to keep our roof over our heads. He has lots of toys (trailer, four wheelers, etc.) and our thinking is that he should have to sell them in order to pay my dad back a large chunk of the money he owes (it's somewhere in the $120,000 neighborhood) What is to stop him from not paying the mortgage or the monies that my mom loaned him? My sister and I are beside ourselves trying to figure out a way to protect my dad especially since he lost his wife of fifty years, discovered his son is a thief and just before xmas he's going to be abandoned holding the bag. Do you have any suggestions? Thank you.


Asked on 12/03/09, 6:30 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Alvin Lundgren Alvin R. Lundgren, L.C.

Unfortunately the damage has already been done when your parents indulged their son without getting anything in writing. You may have a case of elder abuse and use of undue influence to manipulate your parents. Your father would have to cooperate to file suit against your brother. There may be possible criminal charges of elder abuse that could be filed. You should consult with an attorney who can get details about the circumstance of the loans and your parents condition to know whether elder abuse occurred.

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Answered on 12/09/09, 9:56 pm


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