Estate attorney potential conflicts of interest situation

[j.morrissey]

What is the name of your state? Georgia.

Would like to know if the attorney currently handling my parents’ estates has potential conflicts of interest that warrant investigation and possible action on the part of the family.

In correspondences with the family and beneficiaries of my parents’ trusts, the attorney has disclosed that he provided estate planning counsel for my parents, which included drafting their wills and trusts. Now that they have passed, he is providing legal council for the executor and co-trustees named in the estate planning document. The executor and one of the co-trustees is an estranged family member that only reconnected with my parents after they became terminally ill while the other co-trustee is a professional fiduciary.

What may not have been disclosed is that the attorney also serves as an officer of a local charitable foundation that is named directly as a residual beneficiaries of the trusts and to manage funds on behalf of some of the other charities listed. In IRS Form 990 filings for this charitable foundation the attorney claims to spend about a 1/3 of his time on related matters, but does not report compensation (W-2, 1099-MISC, other) and makes a point that he is not a director for the organization.

Digging further revealed that the attorney’s legal firm has a contract with the charitable foundation to provide management services for them. This contract has been renewed by the charitable foundation for at least the past 10 years with an annual fee of close to $200k per the most recently available IRS Form 990 filings (2019). Lastly, the building occupied by his firm and used as the community foundation’s mailing address is owned by a LLC that lists the attorney’s wife as a member and the Registered Agent. Copies of deeds filed with the county include signatures for both the estate attorney and his wife.

With all that said does the situation seem concerning? Would appreciate other opinions before deciding on a course of action.

 

[adjusterjack]

Don't look at the relationships. Look at where the dollars are going.

If the dollars are going where they are supposed to be going then the relationships are irrelevant.

You might also check with the state Bar or attorney regulatory agency to see if there are any complaints and check the Superior Court records to see if he has been a defendant in any lawsuits.

If he comes up clean he is likely to want to stay that way and your fears my be groundless.

 

[j.morrissey]

Had not thought about checking with the state bar or other regulatory agencies, so appreciate that suggestion. Did comb through court records for his name and that of known clients, but need to go back and dig deeper just to be sure.

As for the money, have been trying to follow but limited by what those handling the estate are willing to share since do not live locally and was not provided access to the house. Also since everything related to the estate was held in trusts, the attorney filed to probate in solemn form. Did get copies of the wills and managed to track down the trust documents as well, but the interactions between these are complex. Parents never shared details of their financials before they passed so can only speculate how much the estates are worth. This makes it hard to calculate the residual and ensure funds are not getting syphoned off elsewhere. The estate attorney did eventually send out a spreadsheet and flow diagram that was supposed to explain it all, but was light on details. More recently he has made rumblings that the estate was still short, and may not be able to cover all the planned donations which has me concerned they don't have a good handle on the financials.

Considering filing a formal request for inventory and accounting, but not clear what the process is and leery of violating the no contest clause in the wills.

 

[adjusterjack]

Now that you have the trust documents, the will, and the spreadsheet your next step is to study the Georgia Trust Code (Chapter 12) for the rights of beneficiaries and the duties of the trustees.

Georgia Code Title 53 (2021) - Wills, Trusts, and Administration of Estates :: 2021 Georgia Code :: US Codes and Statutes :: US Law :: Justia

A formal request for documentation that you are entitled to by statute is not contesting anything. A letter to the attorney, with applicable citations from the statutes should be enough to get you what you want. If not, you may have to consider hiring your own attorney to monitor what is going on. That, unfortunately, comes out of your money, not the estate's money if the attorney is doing no wrong.

Complex estates take lots of time and legal expense. Heirs are often impatient and that generates suspicion and hostility when there might not be any cause for it.