My grandmother on my dad's side, who is financially well-off, bought me a bunch of government savings bonds when I was a kid. The bonds were supposed to be used to pay for college, and my dad has been holding onto them since I was a kid. They are currently in his safety deposit box at his bank. Keep in mind that the bonds have my name printed on them and legally belong to me.
Of the (approximately) $50,000 worth of bonds that was originally there, about $35,000 is left. The other $15,000 was spent on college tuition and other various expenses. I currently owe my dad $18,000 for an expensive trip to Europe that he paid for last summer (for which I agreed to pay him back), among other things. Since I have no savings, I agreed to pay him back by singing $18,000 worth of my savings bonds over to him.
I am 25, and I have been asking him to give me my bonds (which, again, legally belong to me) for several years, and he has always refused. He believes I will mismanage the money, and he wants to make sure I have enough left to pay for school.
Recently, he has been bugging me to go to the bank with him to sign the $18,000 in bonds over to him. The process involves me having to go to the bank with my dad, physically sign each individual bond, and authorizing the bank to deposit them into his account. Recently, it occurred to me that when he hands the bonds over for me to sign, I could just keep them, and there would be nothing he could do about it since they legally belong to me (of course, I would pay him the money I owe him from the remaining bonds that he is still holding on to).
I consulted with an attorney who told me that I have the legal right to keep the bonds if I wish. I also consulted with my local police precinct, and they told me that if my dad has the bonds on him and refuses to give them to me, I should call them (although they did not guarantee what exactly they would do in that situation).
Once I get the bonds, I intend to set aside enough to pay for 2 years of school, and use the rest to move out of my dad's house, pay off my car, and support myself until I find full-time work.
Keep in mind that my dad and I have not had a good relationship in years. As a matter of fact, nobody in his family really likes him. He has done things like getting me arrested for relatively minor shit, and alienating me from my extended family by telling them all sorts of negative shit about me that should not be shared. So no, I don't feel fucked up about doing this. I have wanted to move out of my dad's house ever since I moved back in, and this is my opportunity. Additionally, I have a girl who I want to live with and start a family in the not-too-distant future, so this is really a golden opportunity for me.
The attorney I spoke to told me I could sue my dad for the bonds, but I can't afford the legal fees right now, so I have 3 options:
Option 1: I go to the bank with my dad (letting him think I'm there to sign over the bonds to him), wait for him to hand me the bonds to sign, and then walk off with them. There will be 18 bonds worth $1000 each.
However, if he anticipates that I might do this, he may choose to hand the bonds over to me one-by-one. This means he will hand one $1000 bond over to me, wait for me to sign it and hand it to the bank teller, and then hand me the next one, and so on. If he does this, I will be forced to stop the transaction and simply demand he hand the rest of the bonds over to me. Of course, he will say no, and I will probably end up having to call the cops and physically restraining him until they get there, and he will probably lie and tell the cops I beat him up or something like that. He has lied to the cops to get me arrested before.
Option 2: I don't even wait until we get to the bank. As soon as my dad and I leave the house (and I know he is carrying the bonds in his bag), I alert the police about the situation. I then tell my dad that the police are on their way and he should give me the bonds. That way, I avoid making a scene inside the bank.
Option 3: I sue my dad without using an attorney. It would take weeks or months of full-time work for me to learn how to fill out the necessary documents correctly, and there is no guarantee that I would win the lawsuit. My dad could simply claim he does not have the bonds, and I would need to persuade a judge to issue a warrant to search his safety deposit box. By that point, he may have moved the bonds somewhere else. There are also court fees involved, I believe.
I know that ultimately, the decision is up to me. I just want to know what you guys think is the best way to go about doing this and having it go smoothly without any problems. I know for a fact that my dad will freak the fuck out and start screaming (and possibly lie to the cops that I was violent towards him) as soon as he realizes what is going on, and I just want to minimize the amout of problems this will cause me.
I realize I will probably get kicked out of my dad's house as soon as I do this, and I already have a place lined up where I can stay for a few weeks for free.
This is most likely going down on Wednesday or Thursday. I have been trying to stall as long as possible, but my dad keeps bugging me to do it.
PS: I'm not sure if this thread should be here or in the "Lifestyle" section. Feel free to move it if necessary.
Of the (approximately) $50,000 worth of bonds that was originally there, about $35,000 is left. The other $15,000 was spent on college tuition and other various expenses. I currently owe my dad $18,000 for an expensive trip to Europe that he paid for last summer (for which I agreed to pay him back), among other things. Since I have no savings, I agreed to pay him back by singing $18,000 worth of my savings bonds over to him.
I am 25, and I have been asking him to give me my bonds (which, again, legally belong to me) for several years, and he has always refused. He believes I will mismanage the money, and he wants to make sure I have enough left to pay for school.
Recently, he has been bugging me to go to the bank with him to sign the $18,000 in bonds over to him. The process involves me having to go to the bank with my dad, physically sign each individual bond, and authorizing the bank to deposit them into his account. Recently, it occurred to me that when he hands the bonds over for me to sign, I could just keep them, and there would be nothing he could do about it since they legally belong to me (of course, I would pay him the money I owe him from the remaining bonds that he is still holding on to).
I consulted with an attorney who told me that I have the legal right to keep the bonds if I wish. I also consulted with my local police precinct, and they told me that if my dad has the bonds on him and refuses to give them to me, I should call them (although they did not guarantee what exactly they would do in that situation).
Once I get the bonds, I intend to set aside enough to pay for 2 years of school, and use the rest to move out of my dad's house, pay off my car, and support myself until I find full-time work.
Keep in mind that my dad and I have not had a good relationship in years. As a matter of fact, nobody in his family really likes him. He has done things like getting me arrested for relatively minor shit, and alienating me from my extended family by telling them all sorts of negative shit about me that should not be shared. So no, I don't feel fucked up about doing this. I have wanted to move out of my dad's house ever since I moved back in, and this is my opportunity. Additionally, I have a girl who I want to live with and start a family in the not-too-distant future, so this is really a golden opportunity for me.
The attorney I spoke to told me I could sue my dad for the bonds, but I can't afford the legal fees right now, so I have 3 options:
Option 1: I go to the bank with my dad (letting him think I'm there to sign over the bonds to him), wait for him to hand me the bonds to sign, and then walk off with them. There will be 18 bonds worth $1000 each.
However, if he anticipates that I might do this, he may choose to hand the bonds over to me one-by-one. This means he will hand one $1000 bond over to me, wait for me to sign it and hand it to the bank teller, and then hand me the next one, and so on. If he does this, I will be forced to stop the transaction and simply demand he hand the rest of the bonds over to me. Of course, he will say no, and I will probably end up having to call the cops and physically restraining him until they get there, and he will probably lie and tell the cops I beat him up or something like that. He has lied to the cops to get me arrested before.
Option 2: I don't even wait until we get to the bank. As soon as my dad and I leave the house (and I know he is carrying the bonds in his bag), I alert the police about the situation. I then tell my dad that the police are on their way and he should give me the bonds. That way, I avoid making a scene inside the bank.
Option 3: I sue my dad without using an attorney. It would take weeks or months of full-time work for me to learn how to fill out the necessary documents correctly, and there is no guarantee that I would win the lawsuit. My dad could simply claim he does not have the bonds, and I would need to persuade a judge to issue a warrant to search his safety deposit box. By that point, he may have moved the bonds somewhere else. There are also court fees involved, I believe.
I know that ultimately, the decision is up to me. I just want to know what you guys think is the best way to go about doing this and having it go smoothly without any problems. I know for a fact that my dad will freak the fuck out and start screaming (and possibly lie to the cops that I was violent towards him) as soon as he realizes what is going on, and I just want to minimize the amout of problems this will cause me.
I realize I will probably get kicked out of my dad's house as soon as I do this, and I already have a place lined up where I can stay for a few weeks for free.
This is most likely going down on Wednesday or Thursday. I have been trying to stall as long as possible, but my dad keeps bugging me to do it.
PS: I'm not sure if this thread should be here or in the "Lifestyle" section. Feel free to move it if necessary.
