I’m not sure if this is the right community or not.
When I was quite young several family members inherited sums of money within a financial management company that invests in real estate under an LLC, getting an 8% return. The separate accounts were set up 30 years ago, and terms have never been renegotiated. The accounts have been set up to pay out monthly interest, but within the last 6 months payments have been unreliable. Snowballing from having to solicit them to get a check sent out, to now being told they should be able to send one in a few days as “the bank is holding large checks we recently deposited”, all while feigning confusion about how the checks hadn’t already been sent… repeatedly.
Different accounts are now several months behind, which has never happened prior. We’re all feeling very uneasy as a result and I suppose I’m here looking for insight. We don’t know what we’re dealing with or what our options are. With how concerned we are, we’re wanting to close the accounts and invest them somewhere more stable.
Of course if we aren’t even able to get our routine checks, it’ll be a shock if we’re able to get the entirety of the accounts closed out with any ease. If anyone can offer any bit of advice, or clarity, or literally anything at all I would be eternally grateful. I don’t even know if it makes sense to be so concerned, but the explanations given offered more concern than relief and I’m just at a total loss. Is there some realm where this could be normal? If this is as concerning as it seems, is there anything we can do to turn the tides in our favor in terms of… getting our money out? Help.
Inherited Investments gone awry? Financial ruin impending?Help.
byu/hfddyhjkllojccxdc inpersonalfinance
Posted by hfddyhjkllojccxdc
2 Comments
I don’t see the word “lawyer” anywhere in this post. This is far beyond the scope of internet advice about money; this is a legal matter. Nothing we say will matter; you need a lawyer.
That said: 8% fixed return is exceptionally high. It frankly sounds like a Ponzi scheme or similar scam. In your shoes I’d start talking very seriously with the affected parties about the possibility that the money is in fact long gone and there’s nothing to recover. Hopefully that’s not true. But that’s sure what it looks like from what you’ve described.
You must have some documents describing the legal structure of the accounts. Since they’re tied in real estate, even a very legit partnership would require withdrawals to be structured and limited, you can’t just call them up and get cash the next day.
So start there and initiate the withdrawal process. Yeah, if your family is a substantial portion of that fund, you might push it to collapse…but if so, it was only a matter of time.