Family to Contest Revised Will of St. Petersburg Millionaire: Latest Twist in a Two-year Battle over $1.5 Million Estate
Any time an attorney writes himself or one of his relatives into a client's will, red flags should shoot up all over the place. If this same attorney is also cutting the testator's family out of the will, the ethical and legal issues become so thick the attorney is almost guaranteeing future litigation over the will. That's exactly what happened in a St. Petersburg, Florida, case, as reported in this newspaper story. Here are a few excerpts from that story:
The millionaire walked into the St. Petersburg law office.
Harry Lieffers Jr., 76, looked over a five-page document and, with a few strokes of a pen, cut his two daughters and stepson out of his will.On that October day in 2003, Lieffers decided that his roughly $1.5-million estate would be divided equally among two people: His 43-year-old real estate agent and the agent's 22-year-old girlfriend.
"I wish to reward them for the kindness they have shown me," the will said.
The attorney who drafted the will was the girlfriend's uncle.
The document, filed after Lieffers' death last month, is the latest point of contention in a two-year battle over Lieffers' health and estate.
Lieffers' children say he was vulnerable because of dementia and Alzheimer's disease. They say his real estate agent, Gerard Growney, and the attorney, Alan Watson, took advantage of Lieffers.
The family has filed a complaint against Watson with the Florida Bar and plan to contest the will.
* * * *
Lieffers' children know a lengthy court battle may wipe out all of the funds, but they believe Lieffers would have wanted them to push forward.
"If we ever needed Dad, he was there for us," said daughter Reibel. "We will continue to be there for him, to preserve his last wishes now that he is gone." (Emphasis added.)
Did Drafting Attorney Violate Florida Bar Ethics Rule?
Based on the linked-to story, the answer appears to be NO. Rule Reg. Fla. Bar 4-1.8(c) prohibits an attorney from preparing an instrument giving the attorney or a person "related" to the attorney any substantial gift from a client, including a testamentary gift, unless the client is related to the proposed donee. An attorney's niece or nephew is not considered "related" for purposes of this rule. The Florida Bar will have to grapple with this case, but the overriding question for all concerned should be "why get caught up in this mess to begin with?"
Contested Guardianship Proceeding as Precursor to Probate Litigation
One final note, if you read the linked-to story you'll note this family drama started out as a contested guardianship proceeding, emphasizing once again the remarks I've made (see here and here) regarding how these types of proceedings usually end up being precursors to probate litigation. Perhaps if someone had sought discovery of Mr. Lieffers' will as part of the contested guardianship proceedings the parties would have found out about his will's controversial dispositive provisions before his death and worked out these issues while he was still around to comment.
Source: Thanks to Heraldblog@gmail.com for brining this item to my attention!
Juan, Happy New Year,
You posted:
Any time an attorney writes him or herself into a client's will...
That's exactly what happened in a St. Petersburg, Florida, case,...
actually he wrote his niece into the will. You may want to correct your post.
In my opinion, because of the ethical rule and because of the need for fairness in Probate, I believe that the legislature should consider amending the statute to say if a lawyer does something like this, he or she should have the client undergo a contemporaneous medical exam and he or she should videotape a conference with the testator, otherwise it's void and it's exploitation, per se.
Of course, in this case, the daughters didn't have much contact, and which client doesn't want to exclude a step-child, so I guess they can litigate the facts here forever.
Russell,
Happy New Year to you as well!
You are absolutely right, the drafting attorney was the 22-year-old girlfriend's uncle, not a beneficiary under the will. Technically, being the uncle of a donee under a will you draft is not a violation of Florida Bar Ethics Rule 4-1.8(c), which states as follows:
(c) Gifts to Lawyer or Lawyer's Family. A lawyer shall not prepare an instrument giving the lawyer or a person related to the lawyer as parent, child, sibling, or spouse any substantial gift from a client, including a testamentary gift, except where the client is related to the donee.
But your more general comments make the point I was trying to get across: the conflicts of interest in this case seem to have been so thick litigation was almost inevitable. Perhaps legislation is needed to preempt these types of scenarios. In the meantime, it seems Florida's probate courts will be have to work through them - which is the last place family disputes should get resolved.
Regards. Juan.
Thanks, Juan!
Dad's doctor warned the lawyer, Alan Watson, early on that Dad suffered from dementia and could not make important decisions by himself. The realtor was thereby warned by the police not to accept anything of value from Dad, such as money or gifts. Does a testamentary gift count? We've been amazed by the lack of interest in this case by the St. Petersburg police. It appears that most of Dad's personal property is missing from his house, during a time that the realtor was responsible for selling the house.
The daughters were not estranged from their father, but had not seen him in several years, due to his dementia, the physical distance from Michigan to Florida, and the efforts of a step mother to keep Dad's illness secret from family and friends.
The Florida Bar meets Jan. 17 to hear final testimoney in our bar complaint against attorney Watson, and we are confident that the committee will issue its finding of probable cause at that time. More press interest will surely follow.
I'm not surprised by the lack of interest shown by the St. Petersburg police. I'm sure they view this as basically a civil dispute to be resolved by the probate court/Florida Bar.
Juan, thanks for pointing out my mistake on the ethics Rule. I was very briefly involved in a case where the lawyer's son got a $75,000 gift - but is that a "substantial gift" for an estate worth tens of millions of dollars? I think it's substantial, but perhaps others don't.
Russell,
Thank you for taking the time to post your comments. The immediacy of blogs is what makes them so dynamic and powerful. I doubt that I (or the other professionals reading this blog) would have ever had the benefit of your insights in the absence of this new medium.
Anyway, what constitutes a "substantial gift" is the type of factually intensive question that probably nobody knows the answer to until the Florid Bar weighs in. I don't think any drafting attorney would ever knowingly roll the dice on his or her license with this type of question. My assumption is that those Florida attorneys that get into hot water on this question do so for many reasons, ignorance of the ethics rules is probably at the top of the list.
Regards. Juan.
Here's an update: The Florida Bar grievance committee met Jan. 17, and after reviewing the will which named Gerard Growney, the Keller Williams realtor as a beneficiary, scheduled a summary hearing for Feb. 21. I understand that Attorney Alan Watson will be there, and can expect more questions from committee lawyers. One lawyer described the Flabar summary hearing process as "a piling on".
It seems to me that it's relatively rare for a bar complaint to reach this stage.
Another update: Flabar met Feb. 21, and found probable cause on five of eight alleged ethics violations. In a written statement, Attorney Watson said he videotaped my father-in-law affirming the new will, and that the videotape was made in May, 2004. The problem is, the court appointed guardian took over Dad's affairs on Jan. 15, 2004. So Attorney Watson admitted to a brand new ethics violation, which Flabar is now investigating.