Chapter 5 - The Signature
At eight the next morning, I called an elder-law attorney named June Ellis. At nine, Mom and I sat across from June in a small office above a hardware store.
June read the documents Daphne had allowed the officers to photograph. "Your mother signed a power of attorney four months ago," she said. "It gives Nico broad financial authority."
"I thought it was to pay the electric bill while I was recovering from pneumonia," Mom said.
"Did you understand he could use it for larger financial transactions?"
"No. I asked to read the pages. Daphne said the notary was in a hurry."
June did not make promises. She asked careful questions, then helped Mom sign a written revocation and sent notice to the people and institutions known to be relying on the old document.
"Revoking it doesn't automatically undo everything already done," June warned. "We need records."
Mom nodded. Her hands were shaking, but she signed her full name without hesitation: Estela Marie Vega.
At the bank, she authorized the branch manager to discuss her accounts with us. The manager printed statements and directed us to the financial-exploitation team.
There it was: an eighty-two-thousand-dollar home-equity loan taken against Mom's paid-off house. Money had gone out in large transfers. Mom stared at the numbers as if they were written in another language.
"I never borrowed that," she said.
The manager also showed us a pending request to pay a real-estate settlement company. June made another call. Within an hour she learned the house was listed for sale, with a closing planned for Friday.
"They can't sell my home," Mom said. "I never agreed."
"We'll challenge it," June answered. "But we need to act today."
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As we got into my car, an email arrived from a court notification address. Nico and Daphne had filed an emergency petition claiming Mom could no longer manage her own affairs.
The petition named me as the person who had abducted her.
