NORRISTOWN, P.A. (KYW Newsradio) — A Montgomery County man is accused of stealing an estimated $3.7 million from a deceased friend's estate and now faces a litany of charges for the alleged theft.
The Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office said James Batt, 66, of Flourtown, was appointed the executor of Alice Lineman’s estate after the 92-year-old died in 2019.
He was to get 45% of Lineman’s estate, but prosecutors said Batt did not disperse the other 55% destined for two of her relatives. Instead, they said he only issued one $150,000 payment to one of the other beneficiaries.
Those two relatives sued Batt in Montgomery County court, trying to force dispersal of the estate. In 2023, Judge Lois Murphy ordered Batt to turn over control of the estate assets, and when he didn’t, Batt was held in contempt.
In 2025, Murphy issued a warrant for his arrest and notified prosecutors.
Detectives said they found Batt knew his friend Lineman was suffering from senile dementia. As a result, they allege he began taking from her estate before she died, paying $30,000 in personal expenditures on her credit card and withdrawing more than $1 million from her accounts.
After her death, detectives said he withdrew nearly $2 million more and charged nearly half a million dollars more to her credit card account — raising the total he took to more than $3.7 million.
Batt is charged with financial exploitation of an older adult, theft by unlawful taking, theft by failure to make required disposition, receiving stolen property, and misapplication of entrusted property.