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Guardianship News & Views 2009

Guardianship News & Views 2006-2008

Guardianship News & Views

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March 2010

OHIO  

Opinions fervent on rules for attorney guardians

Franklin County probate judge to use input for standards

By Barbara Carmen, The Columbus Dispatch

03-05-10 -- Judge Eric Brown got an earful - and dozens of e-mails - when he asked the public's opinion on rules to protect the addled, aged and disabled from busy or unscrupulous attorney guardians. . . . Some examples: / • Don't require us to visit each ward personally at least once every three months, some attorneys pleaded with the Franklin County Probate Court judge. Many attorneys have only a handful of wards, but others have a large staff to work with hundreds. . . . That rule stays, Brown said. . . . • Don't require those alleged to be incompetent to open their homes to prospective guardians, who lack legal authority to visit, others said. . . . Got a point, Brown decided. He told guardians to ask to visit. . . . • Put as Rule No. 1: "Take no actions which are not in the best interests of the ward," a Texas judge suggested. . . . Brown agreed that would cover everything. An early paragraph now reads, "In all matters, the guardian shall always consider and act in the best interest of the ward." . . . In December, Brown made national news by asking for comments on standards for attorney guardians. He would be the first local judge in the country to adopt the rules, according to the National Guardianship Association. . . . Other states have embraced guardian guidelines, and Brown hopes his standards will help the Ohio Supreme Court as it works to do the same. . . . "These standards will improve the quality of work by the (attorney) guardians," Brown said. "They're going to be better trained. They're going to be more personally involved. They're going to be held to higher standards with regards to ethics and standards."

February 2010

MASSACHUSETTS   

Local attorney Jamie Veara sued for gouging dead man’s estate

By Kevin Mullaney, Provincetown Banner

02-12-10 -- Jamie Veara, a locally prominent attorney who serves as Truro’s town counsel, among other things, has found himself in some hot water as a result of questionable dealings with a Harwichport man’s estate. . . . Veara has been ordered by a Plymouth County Probate and Family Court judge to pay back more than $118,000 to the estate of the late Kenneth E. Simon, to whom he acted as temporary guardian for 83 days in 2005. . . . The decision, which was featured in a front-page article in the Feb. 1 issue of Lawyer’s Weekly, is the result of a trial that took place over 11 days in late 2008 and early 2009. It was issued by Associate Justice Stephen C. Steinberg on Jan. 14. . . . In all, the judge ordered that Veara and Boston attorney Gerald Nissenbaum return $328,771 of the $500,000 they billed the estate in the short time they were involved. Veara works for the Orleans law firm of Zisson & Veara, a firm with nine attorneys which also serves as counsel for the town of Brewster.

NEW YORK

Man with power of attorney accused of stealing money

By David C. Shampine, Times Staff Writer

02-10-10 -- A Watertown man with power of attorney for a woman in her 90s stole more than $232,000 from her, Watertown police charged Tuesday. . . . William D. O'Brien, 70, of 335 S. Rutland St., was arrested on a felony charge of second-degree grand larceny. He was released without bail in Watertown City Court to await grand jury action. . . . A police document filed in court alleges an audit shows that between March 2005 and March 28, 2008, the day of her death, Mr. O'Brien wrote checks on the account of Sophia G. Eaton for his personal use.

January 2010

MASSACHUSETTS   

Mass. Judge Orders Two Lawyers to Refund $329K in Excess Fees to Client's Estate

Sheri Qualters, The National Law Journal

01-04-10 -- A Massachusetts probate judge recently ordered prominent Boston family lawyer Gerald Nissenbaum and another attorney to refund a client's estate nearly $329,000 in excess legal fees. . . . Plymouth County Probate and Family Court Judge Stephen Steinberg's Jan. 14 order gave the attorneys 30 days to make the payments. . . . The Barnstable County probate case, In re Guardianship of Kenneth E. Simon, ended up on Steinberg's docket after the Massachusetts Appeals Court recused Judge Robert Scandurra of the Barnstable Probate and Family Court in December 2007. The decision does not address the basis for that recusal. . . . According to Steinberg's order, Simon's guardian, E. James Veara of Dennis, Mass.-based Zisson & Veara, and Nissenbaum sought about $500,000 in attorney and guardian fees for an 83-day guardianship of Simon, which ended with Simon's death on Nov. 2, 2005.

MASSACHUSETTS   

Court Blasts K&L Gates Team's Huge Fee and 'Unnecessary Lawyering'

Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi, Law.com Legal Blog Watch

01-28-10 -- Is it excessive for lawyers to collect more than $800,000 in fees and costs from an estate valued at $1.2 million? Noting that would add up to 67 percent of the estate's total value, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court made no bones about its opinion on the fee request, saying that it represented "unnecessary lawyering." . . . That does not mean that the lawyers from K&L Gates in Boston who made the request will go penniless. In an opinion issued yesterday, In the Matter of the Estate of Bartley J. King, the SJC sent the case back to the trial judge to decide a "fair and reasonable" fee award. But the court did not let go of the matter without first letting the litigants know its distaste for the fees requested.

MICHIGAN

Plundered by her own children? Feud rages over estate  

It's a she said, she said on wealthy, elderly mom's missing money

By David Ashenfelter, Free Press Staff Writer

01-24-10 -- Francine Stanton Cohen says she knew there would be trouble when her 94-year-old mother entrusted her financial affairs to Cohen's two youngest sisters in 2007. . . . In the months that followed, Cohen said, her sisters persuaded their mother to add their names to her bank accounts. . . . "They've been ripping through her money ever since," Cohen, 71, a retired schoolteacher, said last week. . . . On Dec. 8, a Wayne County probate judge jailed one of the daughters, Janice Stanton Hines, 58, a City of Houston disaster relief coordinator, for refusing to return most of the $789,288 she withdrew from her mother's accounts in 2008 -- and used to buy $150,000 worth of gold coins and ingots that have since vanished. . . . The case highlights legal perils families face as Michigan's population ages and a growing number of older parents can no longer manage their affairs. . . . Judges and legal experts said they're seeing more family fights play out in the courts partly because of Michigan's poor economy and high unemployment. They said the case underscores the importance of carefully choosing the person to handle your affairs.

December 2009

WISCONSIN    

Estate money missing; probate lawyer arrested

By Bruce Vielmetti of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 

12-1-09 -- A veteran Milwaukee probate attorney was taken to jail Tuesday after a judge found him in contempt of court for failing to produce almost $190,000 in insurance proceeds he had received as the personal representative of an estate. . . . Leonard V. Brady, 83, is also the subject of civil lawsuits and a criminal investigation stemming from his handling of a different estate. Heirs in that case contend about $700,000 is missing.

November 2009

NEW YORK  

Disbarred Attorney Pleads Guilty to Guardian Account Thefts

Vesselin Mitev, New York Law Journal

11-6-09 -- A former Brooklyn, N.Y., lawyer has pleaded guilty to fleecing millions of dollars from guardianship accounts he oversaw for incapacitated seniors and children. . . . Steven T. Rondos and his law firm, Raia & Rondos, were indicted in January on money laundering and grand larceny charges for stealing more than $4 million. On Wednesday, Rondos pleaded guilty to all 19 counts of the indictment, said his lawyer, Franklin A. Rothman.

NEW YORK  

Lawsuit claims court-appointed lawyer swindled handicapped woman, senior

By Thomas Zambito, New York Daily News Staff Writer

11-4-09 -- Keishma Smallwood was abandoned by a drug-addicted mother 30 years ago. Blind and brain-damaged since birth, Smallwood, 34, was taken in by a grandmotherly neighbor in 2000 when her longtime foster mother died. . . . Alice Dailyda was an 89-year-old widow addled by dementia when she died in 2005 in the midst of a nasty family dispute over her care. . . . The Queens women lived just miles apart - Smallwood in Jamaica, Dailyda in Woodhaven - but their lives never intersected until now. . . . Their families are joined in a battle to prove that a court-appointed Queens attorney entrusted to oversee the women's assets swindled them out of everything. . . . At the center of the dispute is a Queens real estate firm controlled by two convicted bid riggers, which sold the Smallwood and Dailyda homes to new buyers, scoring a combined profit of $171,000, court papers claim.

October 2009

CALIFORNIA  

Court Skeptical of Lawyer's Marriage to Elderly Client

Mike McKee, The Recorder

10-30-09 -- A California appellate court on Wednesday referred a Pacifica, Calif., lawyer to the State Bar for investigation, disturbed that she might have manipulated a now-deceased elderly client into marrying her and changing his trust documents for her benefit. . . . "We find the circumstances of this case to be troubling," Justice Robert Dondero wrote in an unpublished ruling for San Francisco's 1st District Court of Appeal. "In particular, an inference may be drawn that appellant, a licensed attorney, knowingly made a false representation on a recorded instrument in an attempt to take advantage of a client in order to secure a portion of his estate for herself." . . . But Linda Lowney's lawyer, Brian Beckwith of Palo Alto, Calif., called the appeals court's action "really inappropriate," saying his client's a "very truthful person" whose marriage to octogenarian Thor Tollefsen was based on love, not mercenary motives.

NEW YORK  

NY Lawyer Charged With Robbing Dead Client

By Vesselin Mitev | New York Law Journal | New York Lawyer

10-29-09 -- A Rockville Centre attorney has been charged with stealing up to $200,000 from a deceased client's estate, Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said yesterday. . . . Joel Post, 58, was set to be arraigned on a second-degree grand larceny charge in District Court in Hempstead yesterday afternoon for allegedly stealing between $50,000 and $200,000 from the estate of a New York man who died in France in 1993. The man's identity was not released, but according to prosecutors, Mr. Post was appointed co-administrator to the man's estate in 1997 and subsequently set up an account to pay out taxes.

NEW YORK  

In Astor Trial, a Lesson for Estate Lawyers

By John Eligon, New York Times

10-25-09 -- While Brooke Astor’s son and a lawyer who worked on her estate face prison time after a jury convicted them of defrauding and stealing from her, experts say the verdict may be felt by others: namely, the people who make wills and the lawyers who help them. . . . The trial has certainly provided talking points for estate planning experts across the country; it has already been the topic at panels of trusts and estates lawyers in New York and other states. To them, the Astor trial is noteworthy not only because of the famous name, but also because the actions of trusts and estates lawyers were parsed in a criminal courtroom, something that usually happens in civil proceedings.

FLORIDA

In Bizarre Case, Weepy Ex-Judge and Rich 83-Year-Old Neighbor's Kin Trade Allegations of Abuse

By Jordana Mishory | Daily Business Review | New York Lawyer

10-21-09 -- An 83-year-old neighbor of former Broward Circuit Judge Larry Seidlin contends he and his family exploited her frail state and swindled the millionaire out of several hundred thousand dollars in real estate, furniture, electronics and school tuition. . . . In an unusual legal twist, Barbara Kasler now is trying to prevent Seidlin from complaining she was abused or exploited by others to law enforcement or the state Department of Children and Families, which already has cleared him of an elder exploitation allegation. . . . Broward Circuit Judge Thomas Lynch convened an emergency hearing last week on Kasler’s motion to enjoin Seidlin, his wife, his in-laws and their attorneys from lodging abuse complaints involving her after DCF and Fort Lauderdale police twice responded to tips that she was receiving inadequate medical and nutritional care.

TEXAS  

Judge Rules Against Fulbright Lawyer Seeking
Part of Friend’s Estate

By Debra Cassens Weiss, ABA Journal

10-21-09 -- A medical malpractice lawyer at Fulbright & Jaworski wasn’t entitled to a portion of the estate of her late companion, Henry J.N. Taub, a Houston area judge has found. . . . The judge’s findings of fact left the lawyer, Mary-Ellen Conway, without the $150,000 in annual payments that she had sought from the estate, the Houston Chronicle reports. The court published the findings on the day the case settled “for its nuisance value,” according to the lawyer for Taub’s children, quoted in a press release.

OHIO  

Ohio High Court Hits Alleged Trust Mill With $6.4 Million Fine

Karen Sloan, The National Law Journal

10-19-09 -- The Ohio Supreme Court on Oct. 14 fined a so-called trust mill and its affiliate company nearly $6.4 million for the unlicensed practice of law in the biggest penalty of its kind in the state's history. . . . The ruling ended seven years of legal wrangling between the Columbus Bar Association and American Family Prepaid Legal Corp. and its affiliated Heritage Marketing and Insurance Services Inc., both former companies based in California and owned by the father-and-son team of Jeffrey and Stanley Norman. . . . In addition to the penalty, the three-judge Ohio Supreme Court panel barred the companies from operating in the state, where they allegedly duped thousands of senior citizens into buying living trusts and insurance products that they often didn't need and couldn't afford.

NEW YORK  

Tough and Relentless, Prosecutor Pulled No Punches During Astor Trial

Daniel Wise, New York Law Journal

10-9-09 -- By all accounts, Joel J. Seidemann, the veteran litigator who closed the case against Brooke Astor's son Anthony D. Marshall and lawyer Francis X. Morrissey, is pugnacious, unrelenting and highly effective.

And Seidemann's take-no-prisoners advocacy finally paid off in what was one of the most high-profile cases of his 27-year career. Thursday, on its 12th day of deliberations, the jury delivered guilty verdicts on 15 counts of a 17-count indictment. . . . Emotion is the key to getting convictions, Seidemann said in an interview before the verdict. "You can prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, but if no one was hurt the jury will just say 'so what,'" he said. "It's easier to prove a murder than a shoplifting." . . . To steel the jury to convict in the Astor case, Seidemann launched a barrage of attacks on the two defendants' actions, motives and credibility during a summation that lasted more than two days.

Lawyer Led Astor’s Son Astray in $60M Fraud Says Ex-Jury Holdout (a Lawyer)

By Martha Neil, ABA Journal

10-9-09 -- Anthony Marshall repeatedly took advantage the failing mental abilities of his elderly mother, Brooke Astor, diverting millions from the legendary New York socialite's estate, a jury decided yesterday. . . . But he did so under the influence of advisers including a lawyer who also was convicted, Francis Morrissey Jr., a former holdout juror who eventually voted to convict tells Bloomberg. . . . “Nothing of this sort happened until Morrissey entered the scene," Judi DeMarco, 46, a lawyer who works for Bloomberg, tells the news agency. “Maybe he was duped into doing a lot of things and led astray by Morrissey,” she says of Marshall, who is 85.

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September 2009

PENNSYLVANIA  

Lawyer accused of defrauding clients

Two men used a bogus investment scheme to take thousands of dollars, authorities said.

The Patriot-News - PennLive.com 

9-28-09 -- William Trickett Smith, 72, of Lower Paxton Twp., left, and Jerome A. Kindrachuk, 64, of Allentown, face up to 20 years in prison and a $5 million fine if convicted, authorities said. . . . A former Harrisburg attorney with a history of legal problems and whose son faces homicide charges in Peru was charged Thursday with fleecing three elderly clients of thousands of dollars. . . . State Attorney General Tom Corbett said William Trickett Smith, 72, of the 400 block of Susan Road, Lower Paxton Twp., and Jerome A. Kindrachuk, 64, of Allentown, used a bogus investment scheme to defraud their victims.

FLORIDA

Convicted felons could be working in your mother or father's nursing home

A Sun Sentinel Investigation

By Sally Kestin, Peter Franceschina and John Maines South Florida Sun Sentinel

9-27-09 -- Florida seniors and disabled adults too frail to live on their own have been beaten, neglected and robbed by caregivers with criminal records. . . . A cancer patient at a Pompano Beach assisted living facility watched helplessly from bed as a nurse's aide with a record for theft rifled through her handbag and stole $165. . . . "What are you doing with my bag?" a police report quoted her as saying. "You have no right. Put it down." . . . A video camera caught an aide at a North Miami Beach group home for the disabled shoving a cerebral palsy patient face-first to the floor, busting her lip. The aide had previously pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and never should have been working there. . . . More than 3,500 people with criminal records — including rape, robbery and murder — have been allowed to work with the elderly, disabled and infirm through exemptions granted by the state the past two decades, a Sun Sentinel investigation found. Hundreds more slipped through because employers failed to check their backgrounds or kept them on the job despite their criminal past. . . . In Palm Beach County, a woman with pending forgery charges got a job at a nursing home, where she assaulted a patient.

OHIO   

Logan County judge paying for open-records violation

By Randy Ludlow, The Columbus Dispatch

9-25-09 -- A Logan County judge must dip into his court's budget to pay thousands of dollars in attorney fees to a woman who appealed his decision to restrict access to court records. . . . In what is apparently the first ruling of its kind, the Ohio Supreme Court yesterday upheld a lower-court decision that the judge must pay the woman's legal fees because he violated the state's public-records law. . . . The justices' unanimous decision upheld an appellate court ruling against Logan County Family Court Judge Michael A. Brady of Bellefontaine. . . . The appeals court ordered Brady to pay $3,250 in legal fees incurred by Rosanna Miller after it found the judge improperly restricted access to a copy of a medical assessment in a guardianship case involving her father.

FLORIDA  

Life on the run ends for Martin Kirby Watson, an ex-attorney accused of bilking estates

By Curtis Krueger, Times Staff Writer

9-14-09 -- Former attorney Martin Kirby Watson virtually groveled in court last year as he explained how he drained thousands of dollars from two estates he was supposed to be protecting. . . . He said he was "thoroughly embarrassed by my behavior." The St. Petersburg man said his actions were "about as low as you can go." He said he would repay every dime because "once you screw up, you've got to step up." . . . lnstead, he stepped out. . . . Watson, 49, failed to show up for court in March, five months after making those comments. He slipped out of the country — just before a trial on two counts of grand theft that could have put him in prison for 60 years. . . . It meant that victims, who saw as much as $500,000 drained from the estates of their family members, did not get to have the day in court they wanted. . . . At least, not yet. . . . As it turns out, the case against Watson didn't disappear as easily as he did.

August 2009

PENNSYLVANIA   

Former Harrisburg Attorney Charged with Fraud

William Smith Allegedly Stole Money from Elderly Clients

Howard L. Sheppard Staff reporter 

8-27-09 -- Agents from the Attorney General's Bureau of Criminal Investigation have filed charges against a former Harrisburg attorney and an Allentown businessman. They are accused of stealing thousands of dollars from the estates and accounts of senior citizens and crafting bogus investment materials used to sell stock to seniors. . . . The accused are William Trickett Smith, 72, 419 Susan Road, Harrisburg, and Jerome A. Kindrachuk, 64, 3535 Fox Run Drive, Allentown. . . . Attorney General Corbett says Smith allegedly diverted money from the sale of a 90-year old Harrisburg woman's home. The proceeds from that $80,000 sale were intended to support the woman's medical care at a nursing home, but instead were allegedly used by Smith to pay his own personal expenses. . . . Additionally, Smith is accused of using false information and untrue statements to sell $5,000 in stock to a 73-year old Harrisburg woman. The stock was for a business created by Smith and Kindrachuk and marketed using exaggerated or untrue investment materials.

TEXAS

Elderly Couple Forced into State Custody

Becky Oliver --KDFW-TV

8-22-09 -- They’re not criminals. They’ve broken no laws. But they’re being held against their will by the State of Texas. Why? It’s a tragic story about what can happen when you are alone in the world and lose control of your rights, your money, and your ability to complain. . . . Jean and Michael Kidd never imagined their retirement would play out like this. “I feel like I am not in America,” said Michael Kidd. “I can’t believe I have been hi-jacked off the street, virtually from the hospital, and imprisoned,” Kidd told FOX 4. . . . Michael Kidd and his wife Jean have been living out of a tiny room for months. They have lost control of their money, their home, even their car. They say they’ve been robbed of their dignity and their voice. And who do they say is responsible? The State of Texas. . . . “It is a shock to our system,” says Kidd. “We are still kind of in a state of shock,” Kidd told Reporter Becky Oliver. . . . Michael Kidd worked as an engineer at KDFW for 23 years. He retired in 2001 with a pension, retirement account, and social security. Last month, he called the station for help. The Kidds have no children or relatives nearby. In November Michael fell and broke his hip. He was taken to a Plano hospital and into surgery. After a few days, the hospital called the state Adult Protective Services to report Jean had been in the waiting room for days and wasn’t eating. What happened next is a complicated, legal tale told in hundreds of pages of documents filed with the Collin County Probate Court.

NEW JERSEY  

Judge Rejects Ron Perelman's Claims Against His Late Ex-Wife's Family

Andrew Longstreth, The American Lawyer

8-21-09 -- Among Ron Perelman's four ex-wives, the late Claudia Cohen holds a special place in his heart. After Cohen died in 2007 of ovarian cancer, Perelman donated $20 million to the University of Pennsylvania and had a building named after the onetime gossip columnist. He also initiated a lawsuit on her behalf. In April 2008, acting as Cohen's executor, Perelman (and his and Claudia's daughter, Samantha) sued Claudia's father, Robert Cohen, and her brother, James Cohen, for allegedly cheating Claudia's estate out of hundreds of millions of dollars. But the lawsuit has been a flop. On Wednesday, Bergen County, N.J.Superior Court Judge Ellen Koblitz dismissed all the remaining claims (pdf) against Claudia's father and brother. . . . Perelman, who was represented by Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison and Lowenstein Sandler, had alleged that Robert Cohen, the former CEO and chairman of the Hudson Group, had verbally promised Claudia half of his and his wife's estate. Perelman also alleged that James Cohen, the current CEO of the Hudson Group, had used "undue influence" to frustrate that promise by having more than $500 million in assets transferred to him.

GEORGIA  

Marietta lawyer gets 10 years for bilking retirees

Ponzi scheme collapsed, leaving attorney owing $28 million to 125 victims

By Christian Boone , The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 

8-20-09 -- A Marietta attorney who bilked hundreds of retirees out of more than $40 million was sentenced today to 10-plus years in federal prison. . . . Robert P. Copeland, 47, was also ordered to pay restitution of $16.7 million. He plead guilty in April to wire fraud after investigators uncovered his real estate investment scheme. . . . “Many victims lost their life savings and retirements as a result of this massive and long-running scam, perpetrated by a lawyer who purposefully solicited retirees,” said U.S. Attorney David Nahmias.

NEW YORK  

DA: Ex-Judge, Hubby Stole $1M From Elder

North Country Gazette

8-20-09 -- A former town justice and her handyman husband have been indicted for allegedly stealing over $1 million  from an elderly east end resident who suffered from dementia. . . . Attorney Katherine Pope and her husband, Wayne, 57, each face one count of first degree grand larceny for the theft from Mary Abbott Estabrook’s fortune from February 2005 to April of this year; a period of time when the victim suffered from diminished mental capacity.

July 2009

FEDERAL COURTS

3rd Circuit Recognizes New Cause of Action for Civil Rights Violations at Nursing Homes

Shannon P. Duffy, The Legal Intelligencer

7-1-09 -- In a landmark opinion that recognizes a new category of lawsuits, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the Federal Nursing Home Reform Amendments give residents of county-run nursing homes the right to bring civil rights claims under Section 1983 to challenge the quality of their treatment. . . . "The language used throughout the FNHRA is explicitly and unambiguously rights-creating," U.S. Circuit Judge Richard L. Nygaard wrote in his 23-page opinion in Grammar v. John J. Kane Regional Centers. . . . "These provisions make clear that nursing homes must provide a basic level of service and care for residents and Medicaid patients," Nygaard wrote in an opinion joined by U.S. Circuit Judge D. Brooks Smith.

June 2009

NEW YORK  

Poverty Lawyer Finds Coverage Problems in ‘Travel Protection’

By Debra Cassens Weiss, ABA Journal

6-29-09 -- A poverty lawyer turned to a newspaper columnist after her parents discovered their “travel protection” plan wouldn’t give them a cruise refund, despite her father’s heart attack and later death. . . . Catherine Bendor’s parents had agreed to pay for a cruise costing nearly $10,000, and paid an extra $978 for travel protection, Bendor told the New York Times’ “Haggler” columnist. Mailings sent after the couple purchased the travel protection plan said they would not forfeit the cost of the cruise if they had to cancel for a covered medical reason; the fine print warned that any trip “refund” would be in the form of a credit for a future trip. . . . Bendor, a Harvard law grad and a lawyer with the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, told the Haggler her mother wanted her money back. The columnist helped Bendor resolve the matter—details weren’t released. But the column questions whether such protection plans can be misleading—and also looks at the specifics of the sales tactics used in the case of Bendor’s parents.

FLORIDA  

Lawsuit: 'Rank Greed' Led Judge Seidlin To
Exploit Elderly Widow

By Bob Norman, Broward New Times

6-17-09 -- A half-priced downtown condo on the Intracoastal. . . . A $50,000 piece of land. . . . More than $500,000 in cash that was was used to pay off mortgage, buy a second home in Pennsylvania, and pay tuition at an expensive private school.  . . . Family jewelry, a Dell computer, and a widescreen TV. . . . These are just some of the things Judge Larry Seidlin obtained from elderly widow Barbara Kasler, according to a civil suit filed by the widown's attorney yesterday. The Fort Lauderdale lawyer representing Kasler, Robert Bissonette, filed the suit yesterday claiming that "rank greed" led Seidlin to pilfer the widow's assets and belongings. . . . The suit alleges that Seidlin exploited Kasler after her second son, Frank Gardner, died, leaving her virtually alone. That's when Seidlin pounced, according to the lawsuit.

NEW YORK  

Prominent N.Y. Lawyers Jab at Each Other in Astor Trial Main Event

By Martha Neil, ABA Journal

6-16-09 -- There appears to be little love lost between two prominent New York attorneys who are pitted against each other as witnesses in an ongoing Manhattan courtroom battle over $60 million or so of a high-society estate. . . . The verbal jousting between the two lofty estate practitioners, G. Warren Whitaker, 58, and Henry Christensen III, 64, is one of the main events at an ongoing criminal trial, as the two witnesses figuratively yank at each other's ties in lawyerly fashion, reports the City Room blog of the New York Times. . . . Christensen, for instance, admitted during his seven days of testimony in the New York Supreme Court case that he had once described Whitaker as a "second-rate lawyer," the Times notes. . . . Asked what he had said about Whitaker, “Mr. Christensen blushed and pulled back as if he was about to deliver an appalling four letter word,” recounts an earlier New York Times article about the Astor trial, as a previous ABAJournal.com post notes. “He said he did not recall, but eventually chipped in, ‘It has been said that I called Mr. Whitaker a second-rate lawyer.’ ”

GEORGIA

Elderly victims find help to fight fraud

Many targeted by very people claiming to care.DeKalb creates task force to combat rise in crime against seniors.

By Bill Rankin, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

6-14-09 -- At 92, unsteady on his feet and hard of hearing, Harold Williams needed someone to care for him. . . . After returning to his Decatur home from a stay in a rehab center, Williams answered an ad placed by Rukhsana Burton’s caregiver company, signed her up for $14 an hour and had her come by six days a week. . . . Burton, 29, took care of Williams’ household needs, ran him on errands and, only a couple of months into the job, swindled the former Defense Department industrial engineer out of a large chunk of his life’s savings. By the time Burton was arrested, she had forged Williams’ name on more than two dozen checks totaling more than $200,000. . . . Williams is like many retirees who want to spend their golden years in the homes they’ve lived in for decades instead of moving into an institutionalized setting. Not only is it more comfortable, it’s also more affordable. But it also puts elderly residents in vulnerable positions, with their caregivers often having the run of the house, often with access to their client’s finances and the mail. . . .  Williams fell prey to what DeKalb District Attorney Gwen Keyes Fleming calls an “opportunist” —- a caregiver who comes into the home or a family relative who lives there and takes advantage of an elderly victim.

OHIO  

Lawyer pleads guilty to mail fraud

By Dan Horn • enquirer.com

6-12-09 -- Beverly W. Hersh wanted most of her $12 million fortune to go to charities and other worthy causes after her death in 2005. . . . But prosecutors say her lawyer gave about $9 million to himself, friends and relatives. . . . Cincinnati lawyer Robert L. Schwartz pleaded guilty Thursday to federal charges of mail fraud and filing a false income tax return in connection with his handling of Hersh's estate. . . . Schwartz, 69, was supposed to move Hersh's money into trusts that would be used to benefit worthy causes, but federal prosecutors say he used most of the money for personal expenditures and gifts to friends and associates. . . . The fraud charge is tied to his failure to give $2.5 million to Hadassah Hospital in Israel, as Hersh had instructed him to do. Schwartz also gave away large sums of money from a $6.3 million "discretionary trust" that he controlled, prosecutors say. . . . Hadassah Hospital received about $5,000 and other charities about $50,000. Prosecutors say Schwartz informed the hospital it would receive money from Hersh's estate, but he never said how much.

WASHINGTON   

High court suspends lawyer Eugster

City Council hopeful must pay widow’s estate

Richard Roesler, spokesman.com

6-12-09 -- After a long-running battle over his handling of an elderly widow’s case, Spokane attorney Steve Eugster has narrowly avoided disbarment. . . . The state Supreme Court ruled 5-4 Thursday that Eugster should instead be suspended from practicing law for 18 months. He will also have to pay $13,500 to the now-deceased woman’s estate. . . . “Eugster breached his duty to maintain his client’s confidences, used confidences to take action directly contrary to his client’s interests, and created a nightmare for his client who had to spend $13,500 defending a petition to declare her incompetent,” Justice Tom Chambers wrote for the majority. “However, Eugster’s misconduct was the first in a long career.” . . . The four-justice minority called for a harsher penalty. . . . “The only conclusion that can be drawn … is that Eugster should be disbarred,” Justice Mary Fairhurst wrote. . . . Shawn Newman, an Olympia attorney representing Eugster, characterized the ruling as a win. “Once the bar unanimously recommends disbarment, it is almost unprecedented to get that turned around,” he said.

May 2009

Amid Financial Abuse, a Blind Spot for Family

By Paula Span, New York Times

5-19-09 -- Outside the courtroom where socialite Brooke Astor’s son and former attorney are on trial for conspiracy and scheming to defraud her estate, a witness stopped to talk to a columnist for the New York Post. . . . Betsy Gotbaum, New York City’s public advocate and Mrs. Astor’s close friend, had just testified to Mrs. Astor’s mental decline, which prosecutors say left her unable to understand the changes to her will that benefited her son, Anthony Marshall, 84. Whatever his culpability, Ms. Gotbaum said, “She wouldn’t want him to go to jail.” . . . It’s a sentiment that experts often hear in cases of alleged financial exploitation. One reason the crime proves difficult to detect and prosecute is that so often “the abuser is someone the elder has loved and trusted,” said Thomas Hafemeister, a University of Virginia law professor studying financial elder abuse. Who wants to see a loved one — even one who may be ripping you off — in handcuffs? . . . As with other forms of elder abuse, basic facts about financial exploitation — even how widely it occurs and to whom — remain elusive. Experts think all varieties are substantially underreported, and financial manipulation, unlike broken bones or bruises, can happen almost invisibly. . . . But in elder abuse cases substantiated by adult protective agencies in 11 states, the most common abusers weren’t strangers, but sons and daughters, the National Center on Elder Abuse has found (PDF). A recent report on financial abuse from the Metlife Mature Market Institute (PDF) also points to family, along with “trusted professionals,” as the primary predators.

NEW YORK  

Disbarred Lawyer Who Stole $130,000 Gets 3 to 9 Years in Prison

Mark Fass, New York Law Journal

5-6-09 -- A former Queens, N.Y., lawyer who admitted stealing $130,000 from her client escrow account to finance a gambling addiction was sentenced last week by New York Supreme Court Justice Joseph Grosso to three to nine years in prison. . . . Arelia Taveras ran a general practice before being disbarred in 2007. In two videotaped statements, including an apology she posted on YouTube, Taveras admitted taking the money from her escrow account to pay for, among other things, marathon gambling sprees in Atlantic City.

April 2009

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA  

Former lawyer bilked elderly clients of big sums of money

By: Bill Myers, Washington Examiner Staff Writer

4-26-09 -- A disbarred former lawyer faces nearly five years in prison when he is sentenced in on Monday on charges that he bilked elderly clients out of hundreds of thousands of dollars as their health and finances withered away. . . . Reginald “Reggie” Rogers was like “a son” to several elderly clients — cleaning their homes, cooking for them, singing for them to lift their spirits, and spending weekends and evenings with them. Prosecutors allege it was all an act — that his only interest was getting his hands on his clients’ money. . . . He has been convicted of emptying out his clients’ bank accounts, spending the money on expensive clothes and airline tickets. Prosecutors John Griffith and Diane Lucas are asking for a 57-month sentence. . . . He was arrested shortly after the niece of one of his victims complained to the D.C. Bar Counsel, the city’s top legal ethics enforcer.

WISCONSIN    

Lawyer accused of robbing client

Guardian sues attorney, firm over $600,000

By Marie Rohde of the Journal Sentinel

4-26-09 -- The guardian for an elderly woman has filed a lawsuit against a prominent Milwaukee law firm and a suspended lawyer, claiming the lawyer stole more than $600,000 from her. . . . Supportive Community Services, the legal guardian for Dorothy G. Phinney, filed the lawsuit against Quarles & Brady and Jeffrey Elverman, a lawyer who was with the firm when the alleged theft occurred between December 2001 and September 2004. . . . According to the lawsuit, Phinney hired Elverman in 2000 while he worked at Quarles & Brady. . . . Christopher Stawski, a lawyer representing Phinney, said the money was discovered missing in 2008, shortly after a Milwaukee County judge found Phinney incompetent and appointed Supportive Community Services as her guardian. Elverman, Stawski said, fought the appointment, saying that she had given him her power of attorney.

GEORGIA  

Ga. Lawyer Used Elder Law Practice to Snare Ponzi Victims

Robert Copeland pleaded guilty this week; his lawyer said he 'didn't want to do this anymore'

R. Robin McDonald, Fulton County Daily Report

4-24-09 -- For five years, a Marietta, Ga., attorney who specialized in elder law arranged community workshops where he sought investors for a bogus financial scheme that would siphon more than $40 million from his unsuspecting clientele, according to a federal prosecutor. . . . When the scheme collapsed earlier this year and investors began complaining to local police and the FBI, attorney Robert P. Copeland confessed to federal prosecutors in Atlanta, said his Decatur lawyer, Marcia G. Shein. . . . Shein said that Copeland surrendered to authorities because, "He didn't want to do this any more. He needed to resolve the problem." . . . In U.S. District Court on Monday, Copeland pleaded guilty to a criminal information (charges filed either prior to or in lieu of a grand jury indictment) charging him with a single count of wire fraud. He is free on $100,000 unsecured bond pending his July 10 sentencing.

NEW YORK  

NY Lawyer Faces Questions on Two-Year Suspension If He Testifies at His Trial for Looting Astor Estate

By Daniel Wise | New York Law Journal, |  New York Lawyer

4-24-09 -- A lawyer facing criminal charges in connection with the handling of socialite Brooke Astor's estate planning can be questioned about his two-year suspension in the mid-1990s if he testifies at his upcoming trial, the presiding judge has ruled. . . . Attorney Francis X. Morrissey and Ms. Astor's son, Anthony Marshall, have been accused of taking advantage of the doyenne's diminished mental capacity to redirect millions of dollars to Mr. Marshall that had been bequeathed to charity. Opening statements in the case are set for Monday. . . . Acting Supreme Court Justice A. Kirke Bartley ruled in People v. Morrissey, 6044/07, that prosecutors could question Mr. Morrissey about several matters related to the suspension, including whether he had lied under oath at the disciplinary proceeding.

Tips for Preventing, Detecting, and Reporting Financial Abuse of the Elderly

ElderLawAnswers.com

4-6-09 -- As the economy worsens, incidences of elder financial abuse are reportedly on the rise. The elderly are particularly vulnerable to scams or to financial abuse by family members in need of money. . . . A recent study found that up to one million older Americans may be targeted yearly. Family members and caregivers are the culprits in 55 percent of cases, although financial losses are higher with investment fraud scams. . . . While it is impossible to guarantee that an elderly loved one is not the victim of financial abuse, there are some steps you can take to reduce the chances. One option is to have more than one family member involved in caring for the loved one. You can also encourage the elder to get involved in community activities to ensure he or she has a wide range of support. Using direct deposit as much as possible is also helpful. And of course you should always screen caregivers carefully and verify references.

March 2009

New Terri Schiavo Documentary Gives Facts Media Distorted in Euthanasia Death

by Steven Ertelt, LifeNews.com Editor

3-13-09 --St. Petersburg, FL (LifeNews.com) -- A new documentary about the life and death of Terri Schiavo presents facts that the mainstream media distorted. Schiavo was killed in a painful starvation and dehydration euthanasia death over the course of nearly two weeks when her former husband won a court order to kill her. . . . Though the media maintained the disabled woman was in a persistent vegetative state experts say she was in a minimally conscious state and her family indicated she repeatedly interacted with them. . . . Now, Franklin Springs Family Media has put out a newly-released documentary called The Terri Schiavo Story that it says provides previously unexplored facts of the case through in-depth interviews with participants in the saga. . . . The documentary is hosted by author and speaker Joni Eareckson Tada, who became personally involved in the case in 2005 and is herself disabled because of a diving accident. . . . So what did the mainstream media overlook? Several things, according to the film's producer and director Ken Carpenter. . . . "I think most people thought Terri was in a vegetative state with no prospects of improving," he told LifeNews.com. "The truth is, the doctors believed Terri was a candidate for rehabilitation, but her husband withheld that treatment."

FLORIDA   

Boca Raton lawyer ordered to repay $1 million to client's estate

By Jane Musgrave, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

3-12-09 -- A Boca Raton lawyer, who has claimed he is fighting to protect his longtime client's desire to leave the bulk of his estimated $50 million fortune to the poor children of Panama, has been smacked by a Palm Beach County judge. . . . Attorney Richard Lehman has been ordered to repay $1 million to the Florida estate of Wilson Charles Lucom, an eccentric Palm Beach millionaire who moved to Panama in the last years of his life. . . . Calling Lehman a "covetous opportunist," Circuit Judge John Phillips said Lehman misused $655,000 that was part of Lucom's Florida estate to get his hands on tens of millions in Panama. In an 11-page ruling, Phillips ordered Lehman to repay the money along with the $390,000 that was spent tracking how the money was spent. . . . He also ordered Lehman to pay the fees of lawyers who represented Lucom's Panamanian widow and her children. . . . Lehman disputed Phillips' findings. "I never put a dollar in my pocket and I spent $1 million of my own money defending the estate," said Lehman, vowing to appeal.

February 2009

OHIO  

Chillicothe lawyer found guilty of disorderly conduct

By Randy Ludlow, The Columbus Dispatch

2-19-09 -- A lawyer scheduled to go on trial on charges of tampering with records and obstruction of justice entered a plea agreement and was convicted of two misdemeanor counts. . . . Edward Bunstine, a former Chillicothe law director, pleaded no contest today to two counts of disorderly conduct. He was convicted and fined $300 by visiting Judge James Luse in Ross County Common Pleas Court. . . . Paul Scarsella, chief of the special-prosecutions section of the Ohio attorney general's office, said a spokeswoman said the plea agreement spared some elderly theft victims the stress of testifying in the case.

NEW YORK  

Indicted Guardian Always Had Excuses for Filing Late, Examiners Say

Vesselin Mitev, New York Law Journal

2-11-09 -- Obtaining regular reports from Steven T. Rondos, the Brooklyn attorney accused of fleecing guardianship accounts of $4 million, was like "pulling teeth," said one of the court-appointed examiners charged with monitoring Rondos' performance. . . . Albert E. Spencer, a Manhattan attorney, inherited two cases from prior court examiners in early 2006. He said that Rondos had not provided the required reports for 2004, 2005 and 2006. . . . After Rondos' indictment last month, the Office of Court Administration acknowledged that court examiners who monitored Rondos' accounts should have detected sooner at least some of the alleged thefts that occurred between 2001 and 2008. . . . At least 16 examiners had signed off on the accounts that gave rise to the investigation of Rondos.

January 2009

NEW YORK  

Oversight Tightened After Guardian Thefts

Vesselin Mitev and Joel Stashenko, New York Law Journal

1-30-09 -- The former Brooklyn judge who appointed Steven T. Rondos to oversee at least seven of the guardianship accounts Rondos is charged with fleecing expressed dismay at the news in a phone interview Thursday. . . . "I must say I am disappointed -- I just thought he was really one of the good guys," said former Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Leonard Scholnick, who was reached at his Florida home. But, he added, "nothing shocks me anymore." . . . Rondos, who is booked under the alias Stavras Rontoyiannis, is at the Bergen County Jail in New Jersey awaiting extradition. . . . A spokesman for the Office of Court Administration acknowledged Thursday that there had been some "inherent flaws" in the system for overseeing the work of guardians but said those flaws had now been corrected.

NEW YORK  

Attorney Charged With Stealing Millions From Guardian Accounts

Law firm has been indicted for money laundering, grand larceny and a scheme to defraud

Vesselin Mitev, New York Law Journal

1-29-09 -- A Brooklyn lawyer has been charged with stealing more than $4 million between 2001 and 2008 from guardianship bank accounts he supervised for incapacitated elderly people and children. . . . Steven T. Rondos, 44, and his law firm, Raia & Rondos in Brooklyn, have been indicted for money laundering, grand larceny, a scheme to defraud and offering a false instrument for filing, Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau said in a statement. . . . Rondos, who was born in Canada but is a U.S. citizen, was arrested in his Ridgewood, N.J., home early Wednesday morning and taken to the Bergen County, N.J., jail. He was listed as a "fugitive from justice" on the jail's Web site. . . . A spokesman for the New York court system acknowledged Wednesday that some of the thefts "should have been caught earlier" and reported that "a handful" of examiners assigned to monitor the accounts of guardians had been asked to resign.

Power of Attorney Abuse: What States Can Do About It

Source: AARP Policy & Research (Public Policy Institute)

1-29-09 --This PPI research report explores the problem of power of attorney abuse and how state legislatures can protect vulnerable adults. Powers of attorney are legal documents used by individuals to empower someone else to act on their behalf. As the population ages, the power of attorney will be used increasingly to appoint trusted family members or others to handle financial decision-making. But it also can be a ‘license to steal,’ because it grants broad powers with little oversight. The report shows that a large majority of states lack protections against abuse. The Uniform Power of Attorney Act, a model law, lays the groundwork for keeping seniors safe from abuse, while allowing them to plan for the future. (88 pages)

+ In Brief (PDF; 48 KB) / + Full Report (PDF; 766 KB)

FLORIDA  

Jackson native's $1 million estate plundered

by By Steven Hepker | Citizen Patriot

1-25-09 -- Marilyn Jacob is living in an Alzheimer's facility in Seminole, Fla. Her brother, Robert Howard, died in late 2006. Though mentally handicapped, he had a maintenance job with the Department of Veterans Affairs and left Jacob and other heirs a nearly $1 million estate. . . . "I know that Robert was somewhat incapable of writing a will because he had been on disability for over 60 years and was mentally disabled," said nephew Eric Jacob, of Florida. "I knew it would be easy for an attorney or guardian to embezzle his estate." . . . Enter Richard McQuillan, a former Jackson attorney who was Howard's legal guardian for 25 years. . . . "My dad assured me that Mr. McQuillan was honest and he even cried on the phone about the death of Robert," Eric Jacob said in an e-mail to a reporter. McQuillan then asked to open the estate so that he could pay funeral expenses, Jacob said. . . . McQuillan also cried on Dec. 31 when he admitted to Jackson County Probate Judge Diane Rappleye during a court hearing that he plundered the estate of more than $900,000 in a few months in early 2007.

MICHIGAN  

Lawyer admits robbing estate

By Steven Hepker

1-25-09 -- A judge jailed a Jackson attorney Wednesday after he admitted plundering a $1 million estate. . . . Court documents indicate Richard McQuillan wrote numerous checks to himself from the estate of Robert T. Howard ranging up to $200,000 each. . . . Probate Judge Diane Rappleye ordered McQuillan to account for the missing money in a show-cause hearing Wednesday. . . . Sobbing and apologetic, McQuillan said he stole more than $900,000 and juggled money among a number of disgruntled clients in 2007. . . . ``By May 2007 these funds had almost disintegrated because of my criminal conduct,'' McQuillan said during the hearing. He apologized to Rappleye, other attorneys involved in the case, and courtroom staff. . . . ``I don't need an attorney appointed,'' he said. ``I need to pay the piper.''  . . . Rappleye found him in contempt of court and sentenced him to a 90-day jail term. . . . A city police officer went to the jail Wednesday afternoon to question McQuillan. He could face embezzlement charges with penalties up to 20 years in prison.

ARIZONA

Valley inheritance case imperils rights of elderly

Not Dead Yet

by Dennis Wagner, The Arizona Republic

1-22-09 -- Patricia J. English is very much alive, but that hasn't stopped her kids from squabbling over who gets the 78-year-old Scottsdale woman's house when she passes away. . . . In a Maricopa County Superior Court complaint that could break legal ground in Arizona, Robert Jaeger says his brothers and sisters persuaded their mom to revise her will to cut him out. He is seeking more than $1 million in punitive and compensatory damages, far more than English's home is worth. . . . Legal experts and advocates for the elderly say the case could further erode the rights of older Americans, who face increasing challenges to their independence. . . . "It's rampant, and it's usually done by sibling rivalries," said Carole Herman, president and founder of an advocacy group known as Foundation Aiding the Elderly. "It's all about the money." . . . Kathy Cubit, director of advocacy at the Philadelphia-based Center for the Rights of and Interests of the Elderly, agreed that such quarrels are common.

MINNESOTA

Woman charged with swindling West St. Paul grandmother

Courtney Fultz is accused of taking $77,000 from a CD and trying to put the 86-year-old's condo in her name.

By Pat Pheifer, Star Tribune

1-13-09 -- -- Courtney Fultz's grandmother had already given Fultz her house in West St. Paul free and clear, according to court documents. Then the 33-year-old woman allegedly tried to get her grandmother's condo put in her name and took more than $77,000 from her grandmother's certificate of deposit. . . . Fultz is being prosecuted by the Ramsey County attorney's office's new elder abuse unit. She was charged Tuesday with felony theft by swindle. She is scheduled to appear in court Feb. 19 and could not be reached Tuesday to comment. . . . According to the criminal complaint: . . . St. Paul police were contacted in July by Dakota County Social Services about the financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult identified only as E.T.K. The 86-year-old woman suffers from memory loss and dementia.

Nation's Guardianship System Plagued by
Attorney Conflicts of Interest

HALT (An Organization of Americans for Legal Reform)

12-15-06 -- On December 4, a Seattle Times investigation revealed that lawyers often use the guardianship system for their financial benefit to the detriment of America's most vulnerable consumers.

A guardianship begins when an individual petitions the court to show that someone else is unable to care for themselves. Courts often appoint professional guardian lawyers, who charge fees as high as $95 an hour, to make decisions on behalf of the incapacitated individual.

In one case, Karen Weed suffered brain damage in a car accident and subsequently received a cash settlement. For help managing the money, her family was referred to a lawyer specializing in guardianship law. The lawyer recommended the guardianship company Ethicare, but when the family became unhappy with the company’s actions, the attorney represented Ethicare in the case rather than the Weeds, and then charged the family for his services.

According to the Seattle Times, conflicts of interest like this regularly occur in guardianship cases. In most areas of law, lawyers specialize in representing one side or the other. Prosecutors, for example, never represent criminal defendants. But only a small circle of lawyers practice in the guardianship field and many represent both the guardianship companies as well as the people subject to those companies’ control.

“Attorney abuses and unchecked conflicts of interest are the guardianship system’s dirty little secret,” stated HALT Associate Counsel Suzanne M. Blonder. “Tens of thousands of guardianship cases in this country are removed from public record so there’s no way to monitor the lawyers entrusted with making critical financial and life style decisions for our most defenseless citizens.”

The Karen Weed file, for instance, has been stamped secret, and the Seattle Times found that judges and court commissioners in Washington State alone have sealed the entire file in at least 398 guardianship cases since 1990.

HALT has worked before to fix the broken guardianship system that allows attorneys to take advantage of conflicts of interest and profit from being paid multiple times for the same work. In 2004, HALT submitted comments to the District of Columbia Superior Court urging the court to fix its standards for attorneys working in guardianships, following an investigation by the Washington Post.

“Meaningful reforms in the guardianship system are long-overdue in jurisdictions across the country,” stated Blonder. “Courts need to strengthen oversight of attorney guardians and records need to be available for public scrutiny.”

Click here to see HALT’s comments to the D.C. Court.

Groups Related to Guardianship Issues

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