How hard would it be to prosecute this?

Question

My son in law is taking my daughter to small claims court. He rec'd a $10,000 SSI check and they paid bills with it. Now that they're separated, he's come up with 'receipts' that are obviously fraudulent. He claims they bought a $3000 plasma TV, $2500 mattress, and a bunch of other things.

While packing his stuff, my daughter found $9199 worth of receipts that prove how "his" money was spent. We want to bust his sorry butt for fraud, and anything else. She's seeing an attorney Wednesday but we're curious about it now. And please, no rude answers. If she knew he was such a loser, obviously she wouldn't have married the jerk.

Answer 1

IS there not a marriage/divorce proceeding? These matters really fall into division of personal property on a marital breakdown not small claims.

In most places, it really wouldn't matter what was bought with the $ as the $ was received while married.

Bring all your evidence with you to small claims court. Keep quiet...allow the fellow to put his foot in his mouth and perjure himself. My guess is that not only will you win the small claim case, you will now have court documented evidence that he attempted to perpetrate a fraud...then take this evidence to a prosecutor where you live for the fraud charges.

Your daughter REALLY needs to bring this action into family court as the guy is obviously a weasel and you need everything documented in court and finalized.

Even IF the $$ really was used to buy those items, in a family court they would take into consideration that he obviously blew all his money on toys while her money went to supporting the household..therefore, half of those toys will be hers!!

Answer 2

let  him s***w himself because if he takes those receipts to court that is what he is doing, you can not at any time have 2000 worth of assets.

Answer 3

I would think that if your receipts are better than his (i.e., valid)...you should be just fine. I mean, for example, if "you" buy a plasma TV at Best Buy, the receipt is HUGE so a fraudulent receipt better be pretty good. Did they purchase these items when they were together? Also, who kept the items? He can't sue for items he is maintaining. If she maintains these items and they are legally separated, they should have some sort of asset division in their petition. If they are simply living apart, I don't think that he can sue her for the items she has in the "home". It's kind of sticky, the items that need to be considered are who maintains possession of the assets, whether or not the couple is legally separated and has a division of assets in their petition.