Quien es tu padre

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Grandpa had savings at Wells Fargo and Chase and had an investment account at Merrill Lynch.   His wish was to consolidate all his money in Merril Lynch.  By then his accountant advised him to consolidate all his money into Merril Lynch, an investment bank, as his investments in all the other banks were not generating interest.  He was advised by his accountant to create an offshore company in one of the British Caribbean Isles and so it was done.  The only beneficiaries of this new offshore company, besides Grandpa Chichi, would be his three children.  The money to deposit in the new offshore company never arrived, because it was not possible for Chase to release Grandpa Chichi’s funds.

Grandfather Chichi never received a checkbook from Chase, because the bank’s policy was not to send any correspondence to Venezuela. In fact, bank statements were sent to his niece Carmencita in Puerto Rico.

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Grandpa wrote two “home-made” checks. One from Chase and one from Wells Fargo. Those checks were deposited into his Merril Lynch account. Wells Fargo honored Chich’s check, but Chase declined it.  Obviously, they did not want to “give up” the money that Grandpa had in the Chase.

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All of Chase’s demands were met for that money to be transferred to Merri Lynch, but it was not possible.  Narciso Álvarez spoke by phone with Chichi few times. Álvarez asked Chichi for a letter and a series of precautions, such as the telephone bill, to verify that he was speaking with Chichi, despite the fact that Álvarez knew his voice, since they had been talking on the phone and in person for several decades.  None of that worked.
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As the weeks and months passed, Chichi’s health worsened, because in the end he developed Parkinson’s disease and it was difficult for him to breathe normally.  Sensing his near death, he wanted to resolve his inheritance, leaving the offshore company that was already open in the Caribbean, awaiting for the funds, which never arrived.

His son Ricardo traveled several times to Miami and, although he had a broad power of attorney granted by Chichi, it was not possible for him to release the funds from his account in Chase.  Chase insisted that Chichi had to be present at the bank to close his account, despite his letter, the multiple telephone conversations he had with Álvarez and despite the fact that Chichi had met all the requirements demanded by the bank.

Seeing that no progress was being made and that Chase flatly refused to transfer the money from Chichi’s account at that bank to Chichi’s Merrill Lynch account, as Wells Fargo had already done without any problem, it was decided to hire a lawyer to get Chase to comply with Chichi’s will, however Chichi’s death on November 25, 2014, interrupted the process.  Chase never fulfilled Chichi’s last wish: to transfer his funds to his Merrill Lynch account.  Then, from our attorneys, we learned of similar cases with Chase himself, but it was too late for legal actions..