Need ATTORNEY - Altus/Lawton area

16 years ago

Off the garden topic here but need help!

As some of you know my sister, her husband and their 12 yr. old daughter moved to Altus, Oklahoma 3 months ago. My BIL has terminal cancer, with a short time left and chose to retire there to be near his oldest daughter. My sister and niece are having a very hard time with the step-daughter. SD hid her evilness very well while I was visiting over Thanksgiving but has done a really bad thing now!! SD is the one that is distributing all of her father med's - from 4 different doctors - he is VERY over medicated and yesterday she convinced him to sign over his and my sister's checking, other bank accounts, all benifits from insurance and their house into her name!! SD is now trying to force my sister to sign the paper work agreeing to this and has told her that SD will give her an allowance each month! (YES, out of her own money!) My sister is a very timid person and I can not get back down there for at least another week. SD is also trying to move her father in with her and her husband - her husband broke his leg on Saturday, had surgery on Sunday and is at her mercy now, too!! With her husband needing care, her father may get to thinking that it is best to have them both at her house. SD can be very convincing and has been minipulating her father for years.

All the bills - utilities, hospital, chemo and radiology treatments, home health, everything.... is in my sisters name because they don't know how much longer BIL has and this would make it easier for her. If SD gets away with this my sister and niece will be without anyway to support themselves and in debt up to their eyes!!

My sister is in need of a GOOD TOUGH lawyer! If anyone knows of one in the Altus/Lawton area, please let me know. I don't feel this is the type of thing to just blindly pick out of the yellow pages - as we need to get on top of this ASAP.

Please post here or email me any info that you have,

Thank you,

Marie

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Comments (10)

Okiedawn OK Zone 7
16 years ago
Marie,

I sent you an e-mail this morning. If you did not receive it, let me know.

Dawn
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
16 years ago
Marie,

I sent the message again to your private e-mail account, via my internet provider, not via Gardenweb. Let me know if you don't receive it, and I'll try something else.

Dawn
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Okiedawn OK Zone 7
16 years ago
Marie,

Once again, I got a message that the e-mail I sent you was 'undeliverable', so I'll answer here.

I don't have any info on or experience with attorneys in the Lawton or Altus area, so cannot recommend one. Sorry.

However, the first place to start might be with the Oklahoma Department of Human Services. If you explain that you are dealing with an ill person and give the basic circumstances that you explained in your earlier message, I think they will check into the situation.

Altus is in Jackson County, Oklahoma, and the Oklahoma Department of Human Services office for Jackson County can be reached at 201 S. Main Street, Altus, OK, phone (580) 480-3400, Fax: 1-800-493-3500.

Lawton is in Comanche County, Oklahoma, and the Oklahoma Department of Human Services office for Comanche County can be reached at 2609 S. W. Lee Blvd., Lawton, OK, 73505, phone: (580) 250-3600, fax: (580) 250-3740.

If DHS cannot or will not help you, your sister should contact her spouse's doctor and the bank and seek their assistance. She also might contact the sherriff's office or the county prosecutor (district attorney) for the appropriate county if she believes threats or coercion have been used by the step-daughter.

Finally, perhaps the best way to find a good attorney would be to contact the American Bar Association.

Good luck in dealing with this difficult situation.

Dawn
wynative
Original Author
16 years ago
Thank you Dawn for this information. My sister went to her daughters councler and they are trying to help. Her husband is the Chief of Police and she was a patrol women :) She spoke with one attorney last week and another yesterday but neither were very helpful. With the major 'problem' being a relative they are very reluctant to become involved. The one yesterday did give her some good advice, though.

Thanks,
Marie
craftyokie
16 years ago
i can give you alittle advice for the bank area. i am a teller here at a local bank and hopefully i can help you. however without knowing what type of account they have but i suggest that she go to her bank, talk to a customer service rep and discuss this situation with them. that are there to help you with anything and most of them will go to great lengths to keep stuff right. i wish them the best and hope all works out for the good of your family.
lisalam
15 years ago
This is a very complicate case, thus you need the best attorney on your side. I would recommend that you get an AV rated attorney only because of the complexity of the case. However AV rated attorney's are very expensive. I found my AV rated attorney via www.konstantinos.org which associates only with AV rated attorney's at a monthly low membership. All other lawyers I consulted prior to www.konstantinos.org I was not happy.
Good Luck with your case!

Here is a link that might be useful: PrepaidLegal
goneriding
15 years ago
I am so sorry that your sister is having to go through this while caring for her ill husband - that is terrible and difficult to deal with a greedy family member! The Pre-Paid Legal above is great, they helped me tremendously with my past needs - although I am not sure how long it takes after you have signed up to receive assistance. Meanwhile, there is a website, freeadvice.com, which you can post your situation in their forum and get in touch with individuals that have experience with the law or are an actual lawyer. I googled Free Legal Advice and came up with several other options as well. I would just copy your original message above and start posting on some of the free legal advice forums and check them throughout the day for a response. Also, you can go to findlaw.com to research and locate a lawyer. I worked for a law firm in California and findlaw.com is a trustworthy resource for locating an attorney.

Good luck,

Renee
devilwoman
15 years ago
It's too bad this didn't happen before May 1 (actually, it's too bad it's happening at all!). May 1 is Law Day, and Oklahoma lawyers were offering free legal advice that day.

Even without the free advice, the Oklahoma Bar Association might be a good place to ask about finding an attorney in your area suitable for what you need.

Here's the 800 number they gave out for the free Law Day advice and a link to their website.

1-800-456-8525

Here is a link that might be useful: Oklahoma Bar Association Find A Lawyer
tisha_
15 years ago
Keith's family is from Altus, if you still need help finding a lawyer, I can ask if they know of a good one. Let me know.
wynative
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks to all of you! BIL passed the week before Christmas and my sister & neice now live in Wyoming. She has a lawyer that came highly recommened but seem to me to be VERY slow at getting anything done. There is a light at the end of the tunnel - we think ;)

Although there has been some disturbing things happen since Feburary - My sister had a court date in March to try to get back the $ and other stuff SD had removed without permission. A friend had drove by and said the house had been emptied as is bare/absolutly nothing left! It was a rather quick move and she had to leave most of everything and planned to go get it and start the selling of it when the weather was better. When my sister arrived the first thing she did was go to the cemetary and spend time with BIL and then drove by their home. There was a 'SOLD' sign in her yard!! Her lawyer got the sale stopped but still can't get an answer to where all the belongings went. Not sure how she did this but I think it has something to do with her husband as he has some sort of home buy/sell and fix up business. If this is correct he will also be in trouble which is to bad as he seemed to be a decent person.

As per the banking stuff: SD signed herself up as BIL's POA and he signed it. She had legal access (according to the bank people that we talked to - they knew her husbands family and trusted that all was okay) to all money - lots of $ and removed ALL from ALL accounts and put them in her name only in another bank. Because my sister didn't sign anything this is also part of the dispute. There is one signature that SD forged of my sisters and BIL and probably more - just need to dig a little deeper.

Also my sister waited till April 14th to do her taxes as she was having trouble getting BIL W2's and had to request her's as the first one disappeared. On the 15th her accountant called and said that they had already been filed in OK (refund recieved) and that sister may be in trouble for trying to file twice! Yes, that *&^%$#@ step daughter had recieved her fathers copies and sisters first copies of the W2's and filed in their names!!

There is alot more but I have gripped about it enough - I will pass on the 800 number to my sister and other infomation just in case - one never knows what will be needed.

Thanks again everyone!
Marie

Need ATTORNEY - Altus/Lawton area

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