Elderly couple scammed out of $1 Million dollars by Timeshare Exit/Resale scheme.

[davidvel]

My neighbor had visible signs of dementia in her last years. Long story short, the church she was associated with ended up with all of her assets when she passed away. It was about 7 million dollars and some properties. None of her relatives received a cent. Her relatives think she was scammed by the church but after living next door to her for 30+ years I think she didn't really like anyone, especially her relatives, lol.

Bill

Sounds like something some churches would do.

 

[Patri]

My neighbor had visible signs of dementia in her last years. Long story short, the church she was associated with ended up with all of her assets when she passed away. It was about 7 million dollars and some properties. None of her relatives received a cent. Her relatives think she was scammed by the church but after living next door to her for 30+ years I think she didn't really like anyone, especially her relatives, lol.

Bill

Too bad she didn’t like you at least a little bit.
If she made her will when of sound mind, her wishes were fulfilled. The church did not necessarily do anything nefarious. My own church was recently surprised to receive the estate of a kindly couple who had no children.

 

[AnnaS]

I know someone who inherited a lot of money from a couple (after last spouse passed) who was a neighbor. They had no children. This person looked out for them. Helped them, made meals for them, did little favors for them. Basically looked out for them, kept an eye on them. She is a kind person and just looking out for elderly neighbors they had become friends over the years. She never thought in a million years that she was going to inherit it all.

They had no contact with relatives. I am cousin with one of these relatives. She is actually the one who told me about the inheritance and the person who received it - which I happen to know also. My cousin said, no one was upset, none of the relatives deserved or was entitled to anything since they were not part of their lives.

Someone else I know worked as an aide to a middle age, single woman/never married, no kids who was dying from cancer. She had a brother in Italy/they were not on good terms. She left her money to various foundations. She also left a few dollars to the aide for taking good care of her during her last year. She also had the aide promise she would take care of her cat. Left money specifically for the caring of the cat. The brother did end up getting an attorney and ended up with some money.

No one knows what goes on behind closed doors really.

It is a shame that so many are scammed though. Know at least two ladies. - Even if their mind is there, they are usually too embarrassed to let family know.

 

[jp10558]

Be aware of your friends, neighbors, relatives and this loss of mental capacity
Be aware that they are the target of all sorts of scammers
If they will answer calls from people they do not know and engage in conversation
They are a prime candidate for multiple scams calls and scenarios

I have been lucky in that my one crazy uncle had limited control of his finances by the time he was completely out of it. And never had any resources anyway to scam. My Grandmother remained sharp till she passed, and my dad was both reasonably sharp and constitutionally said "no" to everything the entire time I knew him, and always had to be really convinced, and it never was quick. Even in mild decline, his personality didn't really change, so before he would get convinced at all, he'd have already asked others their opinion and we could just say "it's a scam" and he'd throw out the letter. He also basically refused to answer or talk on the phone, so the only scams he ever saw were paper mail.

I worry a bit about my mom, but we're nearby and often have to force her to do anything with legitimate things that must be managed (like the land taxes etc) so even if she might "fall" for a scam, it's extremely likely she'd never get up the motivation to do anything about it unless one of the kids was also taken in and we dragged her along.

 

[rapmarks]

Two ladies who were partners had a home a few doors down in Wisconsin. They had a falling out at age 78.
The one that stayed became a recluse. Two neighbors helped her constantly. She left nothing to them. Left her house to a conservation group who sold it for $100,000; it was worth at leash $300,000 if not 400,000.

Then in Florida, a neighbor helped her next door neighbor. When the older one moved to assisted living, she gave her neighbor her house. She had no family left, apparently still had enough to pay for assisted living. She is still alive in her nineties. the neighbor still takes care of her and moved into the house and sold her original home.

 

[easyrider]

Too bad she didn’t like you at least a little bit.
If she made her will when of sound mind, her wishes were fulfilled. The church did not necessarily do anything nefarious. My own church was recently surprised to receive the estate of a kindly couple who had no children.

I think the neighbor lady did like us better than her family but not as much as her church obviously. She was definitely an introvert. I think the church promised to take her remains back to Canada to be buried next to her husband. She had signed a few will's. One included the neighbor living across the street. One included the neighbor that shared the private road. One included the lawn guy. The last will gave everything to the church.

My grand daughter, wife and I were listed as her "known associates" at Spokeo and her family members weren't. I'm not sure how that happened. Long story short, my grand daughter and her husband bought the neighbors house from the church which I feel she likes. We restored the property to it's hey day condition.

Bill