In 2019, the grift and brainwashing perpetrated by my brother, sister, sister's "boyfriend" and…read moreother addicts living with my increasingly addled, elderly mother was in full swing. I started asking questions about large amounts of money disappearing from a joint account and, not getting any answers, called APS. The grifters' response was to coerce mom into creating a new trust, disavowing me and threatening to sue me for everything *I* was allegedly stealing. The grifters even had the gall to name two conspirators as co-trustees. I brought my mom to MMZ Law to meet with Marivel, told her of the situation and desperately needed her help to protect my mom from further financial abuse. She created new estate docs and installed another lawyer as POA to, in theory, act as overseer and buffer for all of mom's bank accounts (mom meanwhile had been coerced into opening new accounts in her name only so I couldn't see what was going on). I hoped it was enough and left SoCal to go back home to Seattle.
My husband had been diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer that year and I was unable to provide any in-person, hands-on help with my mom. When MMZ Law came on board, I told mom that any large purchases or withdrawals needed to okayed by her POA beforehand and she assured me that she understood and everything was fine. She kept up this facade for the next few years, even though her cognitive decline was becoming obvious.
My brother died suddenly at home, at the end of 2020, at the height of COVID when the county was just stuffing bodies in reefers and not doing any autopsies. My sister died 18 months later, March 2022, in the same house. Both were "found" by the ex-boyfriend, who now considered himself my mom's main caregiver and in charge of the household. My husband died in July 2022. I took mom to MMZ Law to have her will redone, due to my siblings' deaths.
Fast forward to September 2023. Mom mentioned that she thought she was running out of money, and I told her, that can't be possible. After all, she had sold two properties in the meantime and netted over $1M. I thought maybe she was imagining things and told her not to worry, even though I did not know anything about her financials at this point. Then, in December, the rental property she has up here had a massive roof leak and, while inspecting the damage, I also uncovered a terrible rat infestation in the attic. I asked mom to please transfer $8K into our joint account (which was almost at $0 at that point) so I could make the repairs. She transferred $4K and then promptly withdrew $2K. I called and asked her why did she do that and she couldn't tell me. Now I knew without a doubt that her complaint about running out of money was true.
I had detailed every suspicion since the beginning and conveyed them to Marivel as they occurred. She usually did not respond. In 2024 I caught wind that something fishy was going on with her house. Mom's insurance guy said someone claiming to be my brother said he needed proof of insurance emailed to someone, which the insurance guy said usually means applying for a refinance, HELOC or reverse mortgage. I immediately called APS and messaged MMZ Law. Marivel's response was, I can't advise you because you're not my client, but you should probably do whatever you can to save what's left of your mother's estate. I filed for conservatorship to try to stop the reverse mortgage but ultimately had to withdraw my petition because the grifters coerced mom into hiring a lawyer to contest it and I couldn't afford to go on. I decided I'd done all I could and planned to move out of the country.
Simultaneously in early 2025, my cousin-in-law and aunt (mom's sister) called me and asked if I'd talked to my mom recently. She told both of them she'd fallen and had been hospitalized in January. They were rightfully concerned because no one had been notified. As part of the grift, I'd been taken off the hospital and doctor need-to-know list years ago. After 6 months of silence, I called mom to see how she was doing and tell her I was moving and would never see her again. I told her the only thing that would keep me here was if she told me she wanted me to take care of her. And that's exactly what she said back to me. Most of 2025 was spent moving in with mom, hiring a lawyer, getting a restraining order with a moveout and CLETS on the grifting caregiver, finally gathering evidence from the house and bank (who were NOT helpful), clearing out the house, putting it on the market and moving mom in with me.
Why detail this egregious example of elder financial abuse? Even though I picked MMZ Law, they chose not to take my suspicions seriously. They were more than happy to take $1000s, as I later learned, to simply and repeatedly reaffirm the basic structure of the fraudulent, coerced 2019 will. My mom lost 2 children, her home of 60 years, $1.5M, her trust. All could have been avoided if MMZ Law had done what I asked 6 years ago.
