Twelve years earlier, he said, he had signed papers after being told they concerned a small loan connected to his mother’s care.

Later he discovered documents treating him as responsible for Ronald’s borrowing.

“He used signatures in ways I hadn’t agreed to,” Vance said.

“By the time I found out, creditors were contacting me.”

“Was that ever decided in court?”

“Not the way I wanted.

There were arguments, records, promises.

My mother asked me not to pursue it further.”