Don't spend that inheritance money until it's yours

Sharon Cermak

Just because you're set to inherit money soon doesn't mean you get to take it before your loved one dies.

DuPage County Judge John Kinsella made that clear Thursday when he sentenced Sharon Cermak of Villa Park to 120 days in jail and three years of probation for stealing more than $100,000 from her 85-year-old uncle's bank account.

"You took it upon yourself to determine, 'Well, he's not going to live that long,' and spent his money -- that's wrong," Kinsella told Cermak.

Cermak, 63, obtained power of attorney to oversee the care and finances of her uncle in June 2013. DuPage County Adult Protective Services began investigating her three years later.

She was arrested in January 2017, two weeks after her uncle's death, on charges of bank fraud and financial exploitation of a person older than 80. The exploitation charge was dropped when Cermak pleaded guilty to bank fraud in August.

Authorities said she took more than $250,000 from her uncle, with Assistant DuPage County State's Attorney Diane Michalak saying Cermak treated his money like a "newfound piggy bank."

"Her justification is: 'There was still money in his account when he died,'" Michalak said.

In court Thursday, Cermak described using her uncle's money to buy a car but said she bought a modest one instead of a Camaro and had intended to reimburse his accounts. She insisted she planned to pay him back for other spending as well, like money she used for a trip to Florida.

"I was not aware I was not supposed to use his money," Cermak said.

Kinsella didn't buy Cermak's explanation.

"I suspect this kind of thing goes on undetected and unreported all the time," the judge said.

Crime pays?

Despite her conviction, Cermak still might get her uncle's estate, which Michalak said could be worth $455,000.

She appears to be the only specified heir left, and no other relatives were to receive anything under the terms of amendments he made to his will in 2014.

But the DuPage County public guardian is disputing those amendments, arguing in probate court that the uncle was incapable of understanding what he was signing due to dementia and that Cermak took advantage of him.

If Cermak had been convicted of financial exploitation, the state's probate law could have prevented her from inheriting the estate. The next court date for the probate case is Oct. 24.

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Don't spend that inheritance money until it's yours