Recovering Misappropriated Estate Assets

Ashton Estate Lawyers are experienced litigators in court proceedings seeking recovery of estate assets.  Most often, this situation will arise when an attorney has stolen or misappropriated the assets of the person whose affairs they are looking after, by transferring or gifting assets to themselves – all whilst they were entrusted to and supposed to be looking out for the health and financial wellbeing of their principal.

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Recovery of misappropriated or stolen estate assets can be difficult, depending on circumstances such as proof of the theft or misappropriation, demonstrating that the action wasn’t authorised or permitted by the power of attorney, and perhaps most importantly, tracing assets which can be recovered.  Tracing assets to be recovered doesn’t require that the exact asset taken is able to be recovered – but it is important to ascertain that there are some assets that can be recovered.  So if a car was misappropriated and sold, recovery of the specific car may not be possible and so ensuring the attorney has other assets of funds to reimburse the loss are important.  The sad reality is that if assets have been misappropriated and then dissipated (e.g. gambled away), and if the perpetrator doesn’t have any assets themselves to reimburse the estate, then there is limited options to restore the financial loss.

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If you’re worried or concerned that a loved one’s assets are being stolen or misappropriated, or are at risk of being stolen or misappropriated, you can contact us for a free 15-minute telephone discussion about your concerns and options you can take to protect the estate of your loved one.