Help 88-year old Veteran Keep His Home After Marriage Fraud

UPDATE 9/8: Our retainer is gone and we are in need of funds to replenish the trust account with the attorney. We are in the middle of the discovery process, and while the wife continues to hide assets, we are forced to subpoena her bank and investment accounts which costs more money. The lawyer will ask the court that she pay our attorney fees, it likely won’t be granted until the trial in February. By then we may be out a lawyer because we can’t

pay him.

UPDATE 6/25: We have retained an attorney! We are continuing to seek donations for when the retainer runs out. Due to family donations, we need to raise less money than originally anticipated, so we’ve lowered our fundraiser from $15,000 to $10,000.

My 88-year-old father is a victim of elder abuse and marriage fraud that may leave him homeless and destitute. I am setting up this GoFundMe to pay for his legal representation, likely the only way he will be able to keep his home of 23 years.

Please hear our story:

About six years ago, my father was pursued through an online dating site by a woman named Candy. In a matter of days and through very limited communication, she convinced my father she was in love with him, asked for his address, hopped on a Greyhound, and moved into his small home. Within two weeks they were married at the courthouse. Candy is a citizen of the People’s Republic of China, had been in and out of the country on a B2 tourist visa, and is 22 years younger than my father.

Immediately after the marriage, Candy began the US citizenship process with my father's sponsorship. Upon her demand, my father took out a series of small loans to hire her an immigration attorney even though she started working. She began to receive social security spousal support, and was also receiving money from her Chinese pension. In spite of her income, my father continued to pay all their bills himself, including the mortgage and utilities.

When Candy took a trip to Hawaii (with her friends and her own income), my father disclosed to me that he did not feel safe with her. I learned she had become increasingly hostile towards him, calling him fat, denying him food, referring to him as “the sickly old man” behind his back, and at times being aggressive enough that he would choose to sleep and/or sit in his car until she left the house. Her favorite insult was "garbage husband."

It became increasingly clear that Candy was exploiting my father. At one point she approached him with a Quit Claim deed to transmute his sole property into community property. In the throes of an abusive relationship, my father felt like he had no choice but to sign the deed. Now my father's home of 23 years - and its equity - belongs to her as well.

About a year ago, Candy started stealing money from my father, and he found himself overwhelmed with not being able to pay the bills that supported them both. By this time, my father had long been beaten down from the abuse, but in a last ditch effort he built up the nerve to ask Candy to return the stolen money and sign a quit claim to give back his house - she said only if he gave her $80,000!

My brother and I were relieved when my father made the decision to file for divorce, and we become increasingly involved on his behalf. We prepared court paperwork for him as he cannot identify the correct documents. My father can't type and his handwriting is slow, so filling out forms is also challenging. He is a poor communicator. He often nods off at court. Recognizing that my father cannot represent himself in court, a judge ordered a settlement conference, which went nowhere fast because Candy still demands $80,000. My father does not have any money laying around, and is leveraged to the hilt with debt from the marriage (all in his name), so he couldn't borrow money to pay her even if he wanted.

As a National Guard veteran, senior, and low-income individual, my father is eligible for free legal advice three times over, but what he needs is representation. Because of his advanced age and the complexity of his case, he does not have the mental capacity to represent himself. He has long been unable to organize and process decent amounts of detailed information without assistance. He is overwhelmed at the thought of losing his house, which flusters him even more. If he loses his house, not only does he face homelessness, but more importantly he loses the property's equity that was intended to cover his long-term nursing care, care that he is starting to need, and the emotional toll of being forced to sell and move out of his house would surely be the end for him.

We appreciate every donation, big and small. The money raised will go directly to his legal representation. Please feel free to contact me with questions or more details.