Friend's mom died recently discovered several thousand dollars were stolen from bank accounts and credit cards were issued under care taker name with stolen money from moms savings and investments.. also a car loan under moms name.. care taker was evicted but not charged yet police is investigating .. are the children liable for the fraudulent debt left behind under moms name
First, make sure to get a copy of the police report. Make several copies and keep them with your records. You will likely be sending these to creditors for a while. Second, I would be at the office of the agency that this live in caregiver worked for. They should bear the responsibility to help you work through this.
Third you may want to consult with a lawyer to see if there are any steps that the estate can do to go after this person and the company that they work with.
If the live in caregiver was hired independently, then you will not have any assistance from an agency, nor any recourse towards an agency. One benefit of hiring caregivers through an agency is that this would be their major problem.
I would also suggest that you run credit reports on your Mother's name and ssn, as this may help find other accounts that this thief has opened.
Also contact your Area on Aging, there is the likelihood that whomever did this has done it before OR is part of a bigger ring that does this (this too will be something the AG's office looks into) so it is a type of organized crime.
You mentioned investments, if this involved a brokerage house, then you need to asap contact the compliance dept. of the house. This in NOT the local office either or the broker or agent your parent has. Complaince is going to be out of a bigger regional office. Compliance take these things very seriously.
Zack is spot-on on running their credit reports. Do the big 3 and you can do the first ones for free. You want to then have them post a fraud alert and ID theft on all their credit cards. Then run another set of reports in 90 days - you kinda have to stay on-top on this as it could morph into real heartache.
Have you checked the courthouse records to see if they did anything with changing ownership on the house?
I had rings stolen and went to the police and they told me there was nothing they could do unless I visually saw this person pick up my rings and walk out with them. They told me to file a claim via the home owners insurance. Without visual evidence they say you cannot PROVE they stole anything. Bad part was it was my cousin and her boyfriend and they pawned my jewelry. I begged them to tell me where they had taken it so I could go and buy it back. 10 years later she admitted what she had done.
Did this person come from an agency? If she did you need to let them know what happened, she should never be allowed to work as a caregiver again. This is what happens in NH as well, everything you provide for your loved one gets stolen...why are there no cameras?
I am sorry for what you are dealing with, but you are not liable. You will have to probably answer a lot of questions from people so I would write up a letter telling what has happened and save it on my computer to print off and send to everyon that contacts you regarding an outstanding debt.