Estate Planning: Elder Law- One Family’s Tragic Story
Katsu and Charles Bradley of Tacoma, Wash., owned their home and had set aside a nice nest egg for their retirement years. When they could no longer care for themselves because of advanced forms of dementia, the family hired Norma Cheesman to be a live-in caregiver.
The Bradley’s daughter, Caroline Moye of Seattle, tells me Cheesman “took everything” her parents had worked and saved for their entire lives.
“She thought she had found the goose that laid the golden egg,” Moye said, “And in a matter of 10 months she made my parents homeless and penniless.”
The prosecutor in King County, Wash., has charged Cheesman with various felonies, including theft and forgery. Court papers say within months of moving in, Cheesman convinced 86-year old Charles Bradley to give her power of attorney, name her as beneficiary of his estate and disinherit his wife.
Cheesman is also accused of facilitating a reverse mortgage on the Bradley’s house (which the couple owned free and clear) as a way to fill their bank account with a large sum of money which she could then steal. The prosecutor claims Cheesman literally guided Katsu Bradley’s hand to sign her name on the loan documents because she was too infirm at the time to sign her name herself.
Court papers say Cheesman then had Mr. Bradley withdraw huge amounts of cash from the couple’s savings and persuaded him to buy the home she was living in.
In all, the Bradleys’ estimated cash losses are put at more than $300,000. And the home they lived in for 45 years went into foreclosure. Charles and Katsu Bradley died within a month of each other in 2008 with just $374 in the bank.
Somehow Cheesman, the trusted caregiver, was able to do all this without the family finding out. To this day Caroline Moye finds that so hard to believe.
“I called my mom and dad every single day.” Moye said. “It’s not like we weren’t involved with my parents. But she pulled to wool over our eyes and was methodical in taking every single penny that she could.”
Norma Cheesman has still not answered to the charges. She did not show up for several court hearings and no one knows where she is. A few weeks ago, a judge issued a warrant for her arrest.
Reference: Consumer News on NBCNews.com. By: Herb Weisbaum
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