Agnes Albinger, the 100-year-old Monee resident who has spent the past nine months battling foreclosure, has a new adversary: her own niece.

Bridget Gruzdis, 47, sent Albinger a notice of eviction this week. The document, dated Monday, gives Albinger 13 days to vacate the 70-acre farm where she has lived since 1949.

Public officials who have been helping Albinger in her case said they had received the notice Wednesday and were researching Albinger's options.

"We're going to take every necessary step to make sure Mrs. Albinger can stay on her property," said Charles Pelkie, a spokesman for the Will County state's attorney's office, which is working on the case with the Monee Police Department, as well as officials representing Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan.

The eviction letter came just days after First Midwest Bank officials halted foreclosure proceedings and vowed to do everything they could to allow Albinger to remain in her home. Monee village code enforcement officials had also agreed to extend a previous deadline and give Albinger more time to make repairs.

But Albinger's situation has been complicated by a series of financial and land transactions that occurred over the past decade.

In 2001, Albinger began to sign over land to a company called Phoenix Horizon LLC, which, according to land and court records, was formed by Gruzdis and now owns the farm. Over six years, Albinger and Gruzdis took a series of mortgages, eventually borrowing $700,000, according to court and land records.

Peotone Bank initiated foreclosure proceedings in September, but that process was halted after Peotone was taken over last month by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and acquired by First Midwest. Albinger has said that she might have signed some papers but didn't know about the mortgages. Monee police are investigating.

Gruzdis has told the Tribune that she and Albinger had planned to develop the land and that Albinger is now suffering from dementia — an assertion that other family members dispute.

Gruzdis could not be reached for comment Wednesday but this week sent a copy of the eviction notice to Monee police, explaining in an attached letter that she does not have the money to "maintain the property or to provide for the occupants."