My Wife Got An Early Inheritance

Location: California

So my wife got an early inheritance from her grandpa. Because her grandpa was claiming that the grandma was making him change his trust. So her grandpa wrote $100,000 checks to my wife and her siblings which were cashed in and cleared by the bank. Just in case the grandma tried to take his money. Now, about a week later the grandma found out that he wrote them the checks and now sent a text to the people he wrote the checks to. She stated that the grandpa had severe dementia and thought he was writing $1,000 checks. She is now demanding that they all return the money or will take legal action. Going back to the trust, the grandpa owns an auto body shop which would go to my wife, her mom and sister when he passes, as well as the house he owns. The grandma, bullied the grandpa into changing the trust, so that the grandma’s side of the family would get the house and part ownership of the auto shop. My wife and her mom were trying to gather enough evidence to try to turn the grandma in for elder abuse but now the grandma is trying to get all the money back that the grandpa wrote check out to which was all of his money out of his own bank account. From what I recall, the day he came over to write the checks, he seemed competent, no signs of dementia, and he drove himself. So, what should my wife and her family do? Should we get a lawyer involved or just return the money? TIA

Edit: I forgot to mention, my wife’s mother and uncle are now grandpa’s power of attorney since a few days ago.

The grandpa and grandma have been married for more than 20 years, so this is not a new marriage.

The trust was changed about 4-5 weeks ago.

The grandma is trying to make the grandpa move out.