Good news!

I checked the bank account online this morning and the stop payment worked! Yeah! So that means that I can simply send Mom's money back (in the mail today) and things will proceed as normal. Steve was saying last night that he realized a certain amount of the fault fell on him for having made the second payment so I told him at that point that I don't use the systems of the various places we send bills to. I only use the Bill Pay through our bank; it's straightforward, shows as pending immediately so that I can see everything, I can change the date within reason if necessary, and the bank has all the information instead of scattering all our information between the various creditors (utilities, credit cards, and the like). He will probably think it through a little more next time, I bet :) In the meantime, this crisis was successfully averted, and we are so very glad!