This really wasn’t a day when we came into the office and said “let’s pick on the legal industry,”  but based on articles just posted in the EoD News Archive, it would appear that way.

Brings to mind lyrics from a Willie Nelson song (remember we are from Texas!) recorded back in the early 80s:

There’s just a little fashioned karma coming down
Just a little old fashioned justice going round
A little bit of sowing and a little bit of reaping
A little bit of laughing and a little bit of weeping
Just a little old fashioned karma coming down
Coming down coming down just a little old fashioned karma coming down
It really ain’t hard to understand
If you’re gonna dance you gotta pay the band
It’s just a little old fashioned karma coming down

Meanwhile, before we sign off tonight, hope you will take a look at fellow Texan Latifa Ring’s web site www.EndGuardianshipAbuse.net.  Besides the site having good information, it also links to a petition we hope you’ll consider signing.  This petition, sponsored by Elder Abuse Victims Advocates, is being sent to members of Congress and their ability to read the comments directly from victims is impactful.

Latifa is working at the national level creating awareness that will hopefully lead to legislation addressing elder abuse in general with guardianship abuse as a specific atrocious exploitation subset while EstateofDenial.com efforts are focused here in Texas at the state level.

With the legal industry as a dominant player and formidable foe at all levels of probate reform, we’ll take this opportunity to remind those just learning about Involuntary Redistribution of Assets (IRA) actions as well as those engaged as activists that only with efforts mounted on all fronts have we any chance of success.

Forewarned is forearmed.

EoD’s Lou Ann Anderson will discuss the recent column Texas Bar exec board says “no” to PLI disclosure at 7:35 a.m. CST Wednesday, Feb. 10, on The Morning Drive broadcast on KCRS (News Talk 550), Midland/Odessa (TX).    Click here to listen live. 

Hope you will also check out the new articles posted at the EoD News Archive.  It’s amazing the volume and variety of ways in which Involuntary Redistribution of Assets (IRA) actions are threatening the estates of hard-working Americans.

Tony Chan, former feng shui adviser to the late Nina Wang, has been arrested in connection with potential forgery of a will used as the basis of  Chan’s claim to the late heiress’ estate.  A Hong Kong judge dismissed his claim earlier this week.

We’ll see how things unfold with regard to any charges filed against Chan.  As EoD sees many grave robbers and other property poachers successfully exploit and loot assets of the dead, disabled and incapacitated, we wish that more law enforcement officials here in the U.S. would view this method of theft as criminal behavior.

As usual, much is happening in the world of estate abuse.

A Hong Kong judge has ruled against the claim put forward by feng shui master Tony Chan that he was entitled to the $13 billion estate of the late Nina Wang, once Asia’s richest woman.  Chang said Wang intended to leave everything to him and produced a “will” to prove it.  The will was believed to be a prop used in a feng shui ceremony, and of course, Wang didn’t happen to mention this major change to any of her close family members or business associates.  Her actions gave no indication of a massive alteration to her estate plan.  The only one who knew was Chan, the guy who stood to inherit it all.

The judge issued a 300-page ruling and appears to have gotten this decision right.  It’s unfortunate, however, that significant money was squandered defending these charges (including a 40-day trial) instead of being put to a more productive use.  As always, the lawyers are the real winners.

And speaking of situations appearing to be uncharacteristic end-of-life estate changes that surprise many involved, the Simon estate disute has a new development.

In the interest of full disclosure, after an early December incident of being trapped in an underground parking garage at the Galleria Houston (owned by Simon Properties Group) along with about 200 other people, we’re not fans of the company.  The garage was far less than half-full, but mall customers were unable to exit due to Simon Properties’ failure to coordinate traffic control personnel for cars attempting to exit the garage onto a busy street.  The back-up left people in their cars for nearly three hours awaiting any type exit access.  Again, the garage was not even at half capacity.  The situation posed a public safety hazard and the mall personnel’s lackluster response to the situation made clear the potential threats facing patrons in the event of a real crisis situation.  After multiple attempts to communicate, mall management responded.  It’s not worth further space on this site, but suffice to say that at least they are consistent.

Back to the estate —-  it’s completely understandable that Deborah Simon would now seek to have stepmother Bren removed as trustee.  Trusts involve all that language about trustees having a fiduciary responsibility to protect beneficial interests.  At EstateofDenial.com, we’re not lawyers, but common sense presents some pretty basic points.  First, a trustee, not beneficiaries, has authority to act.  A trustee also has a responsibility for those actions to be reasonably prudent and in the best interest of beneficiaries.  Regardless of provocation claims, if a trustee elects to exhibit hostility or animosity toward beneficiaries (in word or deed), why would clear-thinking beneficiaries not seek to have the trustee removed and replaced with a neutral (or at least non-hostile) party?

Click here to view additional news reports, including Bren Simon’s response, on this case.

Bren Simon’s desire to “diversify” the portfolio at the time chosen is an interesting choice, but certainly consistent in the type cases followed by EoD.  Many of us seeking to preserve assets would appreciate (although haven’t experienced) an institution that would disallow divesting assets that are the subject of litigation.

With the Simon case, we once again have an example in which estate planning documents are potentially being used to divert - not implement or honor - the final wishes of a decedent.  EoD in no way discourages people from addressing their probate needs, but it’s important to understand how in today’s litigious society where everyone feels entitled and attorneys always stand ready to aid anyone’s “pur$uit of ju$tice,” these documents do not offer the fail safe mechanism claimed by many instrument preparers.  Additionally, one need not have an estate of billions, even millions of dollars.  Similar asset “diversions” are happening with estates of far more modest means.

And on that front, these cases recently reported on through an Arizona Republic blog (posting #1, posting #2) serve as another important reminder that asset looting via probate instruments can also occur prior to death via guardianships.

As we always say, forewarned is forearmed.

With a vote of 39 to 1, the Texas State Bar Board of Directors voted today to recommend to the Supreme Court of Texas that legal clients not receive additional consumer protections that would flow from “customers” being informed as to whether or not their lawyers carry professional liability (aka malpractice) insurance.

Here’s the deal.  When you go to a doctor, except for seriously flaked-out circumstances, he/she has professional liability insurance (PLI).  The same is increasingly true for other professionals.  It’s the cost of being a prudent business operator in today’s litigious society.  And what causes today’s society to be so litigious?

One influence is certainly the entitlement mentality shepherding our country’s migration into the Land of the Gimme-Gimmes and the Home of the I-Want-Mores.  Another influence - the legal industry, those who help perpetuate society’s ability to pursue frivolous or baseless legal action.

The pursuit of justice can be a righteous act.  Other times, though, it’s opportunism.  But worst of all, contrived legal disputes are becoming increasingly common.

It’s a great gig to wield a double-edged sword of potential prosperity by pursuing business entities through either litigation or the prospect of a lucrative insurance settlement.  And along the way, corrupt and blatantly dishonest - even criminal - acts can and do occur.

At EstateofDenial.com, we follow cases in which probate venues and probate instruments (wills, trusts, guardianships and powers of attorney) are used to loot assets of the dead, disabled or incapacitated.  Assaulting the personal freedom and lifelong asset accumulation of honest, hard-working Americans is an ugly business being seen with greater frequency.

The legal industry wants disputes between lawyers and clients relegated to Bar-operated disciplinary processes viewed by many as, at best, neutered.  Despite sometimes obvious criminality, law enforcement is often resistant to act therefore relegating legal abuse victims to pay-to-play civil venues.

With the “self-policing” legal industry poised to protect its own and civil courts providing expense recourse that is out-of-reach to many complainants, potential pressures toward consumer protections such as liability insurance pose one last threat.  Talk about an industry that knows how to give it but not how to take it.

Today’s vote sends a clear message that the legal industry wants to maintain an uneven playing field. Whether here in Texas or elsewhere, people should be concerned.

To learn more about the background of this vote, see Texas attorneys resist malpractice insurance disclosure or Texas legal consumers beware upcoming liability insurance disclosure vote.