Why file charges

We have told several people about the financial elder abuse my mother in law (MIL) suffered at the hands of my sister in law (SIL). Roundabout SIL stole $100K. We have the bank statements and a few check images. My dear husband (DH) is still trying to clean up the mess with credit cards and unpaid medical bills. A few have said let it go and don't file charges against SIL, but there are a few reasons why we should that have little to do with revenge or trying to hold SIL accountable.

1. Medicare clawback- MIL still has some assets that were not easily liquidated by SIL we want to protect those and ourselves from a noncaring state or federal government. We've all suffered enough, I don't want this to bite us in the butt if MIL dies in the next 5 years and we need to use Medicare for nursing care because they'll want their money back and so far the stolen money is a "gift".

2. Establish MIL as a victim. We will need to rely on some resources because the cost of nursing home care is more than what my husband makes in salary.

3. Taxes. Yeah they weren't filed because the SIL didn't. There are tax consequences of SIL's actions that MIL will have to bear.

4. CYA- We need to show that we weren't party to SIL's actions. Which includes her failure to pay MIL's medical bills which put MIL in a situation where MIL (who has diabetes & Parkinsons)  was denied care. SIL nearly killed MIL because we could not get the meds MIL needed due to the loss of Medicare.

We don't care if SIL never sees the inside of a jail cell. We know she can't repay what she stole. We just need to protect ourselves and MIL going forward.