Is this FRAUD? Funeral Director!

[MARCNME74]

My late father's sister stated the Funeral Director had requested my signature on three Legal Documents,(Giving her the right) in order for her sort out the my fathers funeral.

I had to go to her house to sign the documents. Once I had signed the documents she made a call to the Funeral Director (which was on loud speaker) I had to confirm to him in this call I had signed the documents. He said thank you, and the call ended.

I had later found out the Legal Documents were not requested by the Funeral Director. The documents were not even a "Legal" type of document. The Documents were typed out and printed by my fathers sister.

ADVICE PLEASE

1. My father's sister/Funeral Director Pretending they were Legal Documents.

1. My father's sister/Funeral Director pretending he had requested them.

1. My father's sister/Funeral Director both requesting and getting my signature.

1. My father's sister wanted my signature and got it by lying to me and having the Funeral Director lie to me.

Is this legal ?
What can I do?
TIA X

Re your first concern, they didn’t lie about it being a legal document. Anything can be a legal document if there is a clear intent to do so and if there was consideration (which there was since you signed).

Re second concern, did you request copies of the documents before signing it? That’s your guarantee there’s no amendments.

Medical referees sign off a body as OK to be cremated.

House insurance tends to need changing after a person has died, especially if the house is now unoccupied.

Thanks @PestorPeston , I didn't know that.

My father's sister stated she had the authority to downgrade my late father’s house insurance. And the next day the house was broken into, so the house was not insured

Next day! If only my insurers would respond to requests that quickly. Can you recommend them?

That evil aunt downgrading the house insurance for no reason, or was it? 🧐

Is she best friends with the burglars and insurance company as well as the funeral directors?

Why can't you just call her your aunt?

Hi, I live near Rochester, Kent.

I did not have any problem with her arranging the funeral.
I did not have any concerns signing the so called "Legal Documents".

What concerns me now is finding out both lying to me, not Legal documents.
And what other so called Legal documents has my signature ended up on stating I had given her the right.

My father had put aside money for his funeral. But months after I found out the bank honoured his funeral.

She informed the house insurance company she had the authority to downgrade the insurance. I found this out after the house was broken into.

She did not inform anyone she had done that.

If she didn't have authority to, then bring it up with the insurance company.

I mean, are you saying she's faking your signature or impersonating you or something? It's not really clear.

If the bank honoured his funeral (I assume you mean money for it was taken from his bank account, what's happened to the money he set aside for it?

@MARCNME74 Who is/was administering the Estate? If there was a will who is named as Executor? If there wasn't a Will who was granted probate? If it was your Aunt she had the authority to do whatever she considered best to administer the Estate.

Although that was stupid to cancel the Insurance. Normally the Insurance Companies charge you more because the property is not occupied, so more of a risk

What is it that is worrying you? Exactly? You wanted your Aunt to organise the funeral and she did?

I was told by my FS and FD, I had to sign the 3 Legal Documents, (I signed 3 identical documents) I was told the copier wasn't working so I would have to wait for a copy of what I had just signed.

I later found out the documents were not requested by the FD.

My FS typed them out and printed them herself. It was her that wanted my signature.

The insurance company had a contract with you Father, when he died he broke that contract. Some insurance companies are nice and will allow 30 days or so to sort new insurance, others will cancel the insurance immediately.

Your Aunt needed to change the insurance. The burglary was most unfortunate but their are gangs that target houses of newly deceased.

Do you think your Aunt has taken money from the estate illegally?

Is there any reason you did not sort all of these things out yourself?

Couldn't she have just printed another identical copy for you to sign?

Sign and keep, even

Advice: stop believing anything your aunt tells you. Grow a backbone and realise you are in control of your own life and don't have to do what others tell you.

Seems your aunt tells lies, tells you she has authority to do whatever-it-is, then gets you to sign saying you agree.

You don't have to agree and you don't have to sign!

By signing, you are giving your aunt the authority she wants. You don't have to do this. If she tries to bully you into doing what she wants, you don't have to put up with that, you can walk away and go home.

You can also change your mind at any point.

You writing a letter saying "I agree to allow this person to do xyz", or someone else typing a document for you to sign saying similar, doesn't mean you have legally committed yourself to anything. Such letters are for other officials who think they should be dealing with you, and your aunt can produce the letter where you've given her permission to deal with it instead of you.

If you prefer, you can write another letter to any official people eg the bank, funeral director etc stating that you are going to be dealing with your late father's affairs with immediate effect and you retract the permission you previously gave for your aunt (use her full name in the letter) to deal with your late father's affairs.

Fraud is if someone is trying to obtain money by deception. There's no fraud here that I can see (I've only read page one, your posts were so confusing I had to stop and reply before reading any more and confusing myself further).

I think you're getting too hung up on the 'Legal Document' phrase. Could it just be your Aunt has just used the wrong phrase & meant the FD needed something legal in writing to allow her to arrange the funeral.

It really doesn't sound like fraud.

@Redglitter 100%
why do you keep saying that they made you sign fake ‘legal document’. Any document IS legal if willingly signed, understood and agreed upon by both parties.

This.

It doesn’t need to be created by a lawyer or someone official to be legal and binding.

You are being obtuse.

What is your hypothesis?

That your aunt got your signature under false pretences to forge it for some nefarious endeavour?

You are way too hung up on the concept of 'legal document'.

If you are so worried pay £200 and ask an actual solicitor.

Re the bank paying funds for the funeral, it is quite common for the bank to release funds to pay for this. Some will release the money to next of kin and some pay the funeral director on receipt of the bill. If he had insurance to pay for the funeral then that might have been paid into the estate. I really can't understand why you are so upset, do you feel that she has misappropriated funds or what?

Exactly, it's an intention to create Lendl relations -ie signing something to confirm details of an arrangement to make it "formal"

Hence why if you loan family or friends or a partner money, you should probably get it in writing with agreed repayment terms and both sign it to show you intended to create a loan and not just gift money.

did your dad leave a will? if so who is the executor? if something is concerning you that may lead to financial abuse you need to flag it up asap with whoever is dealing with the estate (is there a particular reason your aunt is dealing wih things rather than yourself?do you have siblings?)

2. My father's sister stated she had the authority to downgrade my late father’s house insurance. And the next day the house was broken into, so the house was not insured.

That's quite the coincidence.

Going back to the original question. Why did you want your aunt to arrange the funeral? Are you very young? If you did want her to what is the problem now?

My father had put aside money for his funeral. But months after I found out the bank honoured his funeral.

Put aside money where? Funeral plan or cash under the mattress?

What is it that you want to be different? It's not clear what you want to happen now that you can't arrange yourself.

My father's sister/Funeral Director Pretending they were Legal Documents

They were legal documents. The fact that your sister typed them out does not stop them being legal documents. The fact there were spelling mistakes does not stop them being legal documents. You signed a document which gave your sister the right to organise the funeral. You appear to have been aware of what you were signing. There does not appear to have been any coercion. If you wanted to organise the funeral, you could have refused to sign.

You haven't told us what evidence you have that the funeral director did not request this document.

The fact that the house was burgled after your sister changed the insurance is almost certainly a coincidence.

You have no evidence that your sister has used your signature on other documents. If she is the executor, she was entitled to change the house insurance and give instructions to the bank. She did not need your signature to do so and you have no evidence that she has used your signature in this way.

Like many others on this thread, I am struggling to see the issue here.