Street, MD asked in Banking, Insurance Defense and White Collar Crime for Maryland

Q: If I have been falsely accused of forging personal checks by a life insurance company what can I do to prove my innocene

If I was made the beneficiary of an anuity and the life insurance company the anuity was through says that their "signature expert" says that checks that were signed by the anuity holder and issued to me as reimbursement dont match alleging that they may have been forged what can I do to prove my innocence and what are the chances I am convicted and sentenced to jail time or large fines? If these checks were written to withdraw funds from the anuity holders account to assist them in paying their bill's or to reimburse me for paying for something for them when they were physically unable to care for themselves and were unable to clearly write their name as they had on previous checks as a result of their declining health how can I prove this since it is the "experts" word against mine?

1 Lawyer Answer
Mark Oakley
Mark Oakley
Answered
  • Criminal Law Lawyer
  • Rockville, MD
  • Licensed in Maryland

A: It is unclear whether you have actually been charged with a crime, or whether the insurance company holding the annuity account is simply dishonoring the checks written by the owner of the account. Ideally, the account owner can clear this up by confirming the signatures on the checks is their's; however, if they are mentally incompetent or deceased, then you have a problem. Not only would they be unable to help you, but it the case of mental incompetence, the question of capacity will rise as to the time they issued you the checks. Truth is of course a defense--you didn't write the checks, the account holder did, and handed them to you. Period. If you can't get help from the account holder, then you can try several options: (1) swear an affidavit under oath as to the circumstances; (2) assemble invoices, receipts and other proof of payments you have to prove what you paid on behalf of this person and showing how they add up to the amounts on the checks in question, which will corroborate your story; (3) hire your own hand writing expert to counter the insurance company. One thing is confusing in your question: you say first that you were named the "beneficiary" of the annuity, and then you say the account owner write you checks. Which is it? They are not the same thing. A beneficiary designation has legal implications, meaning you are the person entitled to receive the annuity or principal balance upon the death of the owner of the account. It is unclear what that as to do with checks written to you by the account holder.

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