Relative in US not answering emails or phone - what should I do?

[SirChenjins]

Relative is my uncle. He lives alone, not the easiest of people to get along with (just like my dad was), very independent and doesn't like many/any people, and estranged from his 2 ex-wives and his daughter. He's our only living relative on my deceased dad's side so my sister and I keep in touch with him by email - we are his next of kin.

I usually hear from him regularly, and if I email he emails back within a day or 2. Last email I had from him was a about 3 or 4 weeks after the last one I sent, which is unusual. All he said was he'd had a recurrence of previous health issues (didn't say what but he's had a stroke, problems with his vision, and a couple of other things). That was about 2 weeks ago. I phoned him at the weekend and there was no answer.

Both Dsis and I are sole beneficiaries which means his lawyer does have our names and addresses if he has passed away (I'm assuming we would be told?), but I'm not sure what on earth to do here - if he's in hospital then would we be informed? And by whom? Or should I be contacting someone in the US to say we're concerned? And if so, who?

Update - he is ok, thank goodness. DSis emailed another PD and they did a welfare check earlier today. He appears well but has sent my sister a one line email asking for her phone number - I hope he's calling to acknowledge our concerns and give us an update on what's been happening, but I won't be happy if he's phoning for a rant.

Just for context, our dad (his brother) used to go off radar for weeks and unfortunately was found dead after a long delay. It was a horrible time for our family and he knows this, so it would have been good if he'd just dropped us a quick email.

What about a local church? Call the pastor.

That's good news, I totally understand that feeling of dread - I have this with a relative in the UK, and getting a welfare check is hard enough in the same country, let alone overseas!

Yes, it's certainly been an interesting experience! It's the reality of moving overseas or living away from family and then not having watertight emergency contact details in place as you age, sadly.

You know, sometimes people just want to be left alone.

I'm sorry about your father, but I would take the hint and leave this man be.

Buy yourself some international minutes from a company like Calleire. You can get incredibly low rates per minute if you shop around.

Look up Talk Home, RingBritain . c o m, and KeepCalling . c o m

Posted too late! Hope all is well.

One of you needs to check if he knows his solicitor who is holding his will appears to have gone out of practice.

I’m near Houston. If he’s not far I’d be happy to call in on him and check. Just seen the update. But let me know if I can help at all

I'm glad he's ok.

OP says he’s estranged from his ex wife and daughter!

All good. He phoned Dsis, seemed surprised that we were worried, and thanked us both for being concerned for him - he was very touched. Lawyer has also replied to my email and she is still very much in practice, and now has our contact details. We'll have a conversation with him very soon about his emergency contact details if anything like this were to happen again.

Thank you for all your help and advice, it's been very much appreciated 😊

Good news! Well done OP.

Thank you for the happy update. As someone who has had relatives abroad pass away I was worried for you. Very glad for you all

Oh goodness I’ve read this thread with my heart in my mouth. So glad he’s ok and was pleased you’d cared.

Im so sorry about your dad.

Good news.

In case it helps anyone else, in this country I would contact the local church and ask them to go and check. Most churches will do this for anyone, not just a known churchgoer. I hope the States would be the same.

I know you have given an update, but if you are calling your uncle in future (or anyone else in the US) consider using viber, we’ve been calling the US a lot this month, we spent about £30 on a normal call that only lasted a couple of minutes, but then found we could use Viber for £2 a month!

This

So pleased you had a good outcome.

So sorry about your dad.

Oh good!

Houston is huge and has very odd boundaries (it's annexed land somewhat randomly as new areas have been built and many suburbs have Houston as an address but aren't within city limits) so it's a bit tricky. For reference, if you did have any social services type concerns, the correct agency would be Adult Protective Services. It would be county level, so Harris County.

Great news - he’s lucky to have you both watching out for him.