Posted on 12/21/2016 6:53:21 PM PST by Vigilanteman
Does anyone know an honest lawyer in the Richmond area? A close friend of mine was left a substantial estate by a uncle who died earlier this summer.
After he passed, but before the will was probated, a care giver cleaned out his bank account. She was given signature rights for his care, not joint ownership.
The will was probated in Israel per the uncle's instructions and deemed proper and legal. My friend would like to engage a lawyer who won't rip him off, but would review the details and the document to explain his options.
Since he is unfamiliar with the U.S. legal system, he has asked for my help in locating an honest lawyer.
Forgive me but why do I think the term “honest” really means “free”? It’s not hard to find a GOOD lawyer which is what’s needed. Jokes are fine but no reason to think a lawyer representing your friend would not be honest.
Sounds to me like a complicated and expensive case. You have a foreign probated will, and in this country the money is gone or taken by someone who had the ability to withdraw it. The honesty of his own lawyer is the least of your friend’s problems.
“After he passed... a care giver cleaned out his bank account.”
Take evidence of that to the police, district attorney. Sounds like a criminal not civil matter.
The top attorneys are down on East Main and Cary. A ‘sizable estate’ may be worth the best.
(Gee, this got me to look up a top attorney I knew long ago only to find his obituary.)
Probably be easier to find a 70 year old virgin.
You're kidding, right?
Honest/Lawyer?
Oxymoron...
Sad about the dishonest “caregiver”
I have some personal experience with this kind of thing, over several cases, mine, and others. I was ripped off for about $460K from an uncle. I filed suit against the caretaker whom I knew took the money, I was very well documented in terms of being named TOD “transfer on death” which trumps probate in most cases and the money still escaped. I had copies of all the CDs and brokerage statements, the will, everything. Me no flako. This is CA where there is a presumption under the statute that family (uncle has the same unusual & unique last name as I) gets inheritances and caretakers are presumed to have committed elder abuse if they get the money. It still escaped. I DID get a TRO, I *DID* freeze her funds. It cost $42K.
It will cost you (or your friend) about $2000-4000 in “interview time” just to find out if there is pavement on the road, if there is any traction, if there is anything to grab hold of.
Personally, I would doubt it. The banks or brokerages who were given signature authority did not act without it. That is the critical thing you must understand. They had it. They disbursed funds or closed accounts accordingly. They will have approximately ZERO (and probably less) interest in cooperating with someone snooping around and if your friend DIDN’T have sig authority and begins to enquire about things that were done UNDER somebody else’s sig authority, it would be utterly no different than a random person coming in from the street asking about a financial transaction. Even if they have the same last name. Meaningless. Most fiduciaries, certainly brokerages, cannot even discuss what they did with ANYONE lacking that kind of authority. IF that authority was granted reasonably before he entered eldercare, your chances are nearly nil.
IF, however, you/your friend find out that the decedents signature authority was changed very close to the time he entered eldercare and you can get some sort of medical or psychiatric corroboration that the sig authority was obtained under suspicious circumstances; for about $40K - $50K in attorneys fees you would be able to discover that there is no way at all for you to get hold of any funds if you can even find them. For you to locate said funds, you would have to identify a bank (who will not talk to you for the reasons cited above) which would most likely require the work of a private investigator @ $5-10K. If you can persuade a judge to issue a TRO temporary restraining order freezing the funds in the bank, that will be what is required. Without astounding documentation, you’ll probably find it very difficult and about $30K for the TRO, plus the PI, plus some miscellaneous costs. If the taker of the funds gets any idea there is heat on his/her trail, they move banks and you start all over again.
But since there is no person alive who can grant you/your friend access to those medical records it is going to be virtually impossible to get them.
That money is gone. The end.
Don’t let some of the posters get you down. There are plenty of good lawyers. Especially in probate. It is correct to get referrals. The Bar Association has ratings based on peer review. It shouldn’t take much for a lawyer to give a quick review.
Thumbs up for #17.
This is far from my area of law, but sounds like a difficult matter, as it may be very hard to attach assets in Israel, even if you have a verdict.
You may have some state law on your side, if it was a crime of fraud, especially if the primary victim was a senior citizen, but then of course, there may be an arguable matter that only the heirs are victims, if anyone is, and therefore the Senior Citizen enhancement might not apply as the heirs are not Seniors.
Also, you will want your attorney to look into a possible award from a state crime victims compensation board or similarly structured entity. In addition, depending on circumstances, you may get some help from the Israeli Counsel General, or they may tell you that no help is available.
Like I said, far from easy, especially since a verdict will be worthless without assets to attach and recover.
I’ll call one of old partners tomorrow and get you a name of someone in the Richmond area. That said, it may be a very uphill battle.
Also look into a Civil Rights attorney if the vic was a senior citizen and there are statutes dealing with / enhancing crimes against them.
If they say no, ask for a referral. Some of them are real ballsy litigators, would love to expand the catchment area of their practice outside the inner city and might love headlines from a case like this.
Sorry; I had those numbers backwards.
In my case, I obtained a settlement of about $42K against expenses of $40K, and because my brother is an attorney, I probably saved $4K in atty time because with his help I was able to prepare 85% of my pleadings and filings submitted at trial. I netted about $2500, about 1/2 cent on the dollar.
There is also a presumption that the signature authority was given by Elder Doe to caretaker Roe so Roe would spend any money so obtained to the specific benefit of Doe.
Even with successful litigation, finding the money would be very difficult.
Once had $7,300,000 verdict for a P long past the time for D to have made any appeal having run. It was solid.
He claimed he lost it all at the Derby Lane Dog Track in St. Petersburg. He had motel bills, airline tickets to prove he was there, etc. He was living in an old boarding house, claimed no car, etc. We had gatz.
We waited 10 months. We then contracted with a “semi-pro” high-end hooker who owed us some favors. She “ran into him at a grocery store” and took it from there.
In 6 weeks we knew about two cars in storage, another woman in Chicago along with 2 an apartment investments there, etc, a place, car and boat in the Bahamas.... and his banker there along 6 months of statements,
With interest, our client got about $5.200,000, we got 2.700,000, gave our “investigator” $100,000 and everyone was delighted.
It’s obvious you have experience in this area. You are someone who has lived this and it shows. All your monetary amounts are right on which, of course, you know, but I’m just verifying it for others who might be interested.
It’s a real mess. I often think about this from the viewpoint of the courts, and really, there’s not a lot they can do.
I know a woman who was briefly hospitalized and while she was in the hospital the mean and greedy daughter got conservatorship of the husband, who is her father (the wife is wife #2 and has been with husband for 30 years), and daughter is intent and appears to be prevailing at forcing the sale of their home. She’s already taken everything of value from the house including the $120,000 automobile.
She’s now requesting the court have her father put on hospice where he will be allowed to die when he gets his next urinary tract infection which he is prone to get because of the heavy drugs they have him on and which wife believes has caused dementia.
Wife is now trying to wrest conservatorship from daughter. It’s just a great big mess, and like the cases you mentioned, the law can only do so much.
Great story. Love it. Unfortunately, most of us don’t have access to great “investigators” like yours.
My boss once had a judgment against a company but had no idea where they had their money. One day I was driving down the road and saw their truck with their logo. I followed it right to their bank. Bingo! We got our money. What a fluke that was. But so, so satisfying.
Honest Lawyer?
It’s difficult to find an attorney who won’t try to bill you for every little bs conversation over the phone, even talking about their golf game, it’s all billable hours come time to pay up. You’ll also find that the better attorneys will require a fairly substantial retainer.
Yours turned out about like mine, defendant settled but attorney fees were not included, ended up netting $10K on expenses of $60K. In my darker moments, I suspected my attorney and defendant’s attorney were colluding to drag it out.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.