Oregon trust betrayal

April 1, 2009

The incredible story of an Oregon woman named Erna Boldt as reported by Salem-News.com is a classic Involuntary Redistribution of Assets (IRA) case as a trust was used to divert Mrs. Boldt’s assets in a manner contrary to her stated intentions.  Mrs. Boldt acknowledges that upon her death, her son, California investment banker Leroy Newton, was to receive half her estate.  In response, however, Newton created his own trust and began transferring his mother’s assets into the trust thus converting Mrs. Boldt’s property into his own — prior to her death and against her wishes!

Mrs. Boldt appealed the trust creation and won in a Clackamas County court, but the court documents were never filed due to “administrative neglect.”  This oversight allowed a window of opportunity in which Leroy Newton completed the takeover of his mother’s estate.

Mistakes happen and incompetence is flourishing in today’s Third World America.  Maybe that’s what happened here, but then again, maybe not.  The “accidental” mishandling of Mrs. Boldt’s documents effectively thwarted her court victory.  Pressure exerted on or cash offered to the right person can be influential.  When theft (or abetting theft) can be accomplished without getting one’s hands “dirty” and through seemingly innocuous administrative tasks as simple as changing terms of a signed document or “misplacing” important papers, accomplices become easier to find.  The truth will likely never be known, but why not consider all the possibilities?

Upon discovery of this “oversight,” Mrs. Boldt went back to court where incredibly the previous and favorable ruling was not upheld and instead, a trustee was assigned to oversee her assets despite Mrs. Boldt not being considered incompetent.  (See prior paragraph.)

This case is ongoing today.  Per the article, Leroy Newton continues efforts to strip his mother of her assets while Erna Boldt says she’ll continue to fight for her property rights.

The legal industry can always tout the importance of “proper estate planning,” but the reality is that when IRA perpetrators see an opening, all the estate planning in the world can make absolutely no difference. Having an estate plan is important, but people need to understand that, in today’s world, an unscrupulous attorney might one day use it to circumvent your wishes and divert your assets.  And recourse via the court system, as shown in Mrs. Boldt’s case, is far from a straightforward, honest process.   It sometimes is nothing but an opportunity to generate legal bills!

From Oregon to Texas, Connecticut to Florida, Americans of all financial means are learning the dangerous threat posed to their property through abusing probate systems and instruments.  EstateofDenial.com wishes we had an answer on how to avoid estate looting, but we don’t and until the corrupt culture surrounding the legal industry is addressed, we won’t.

We don’t have to work hard to find these stories.  They happen every day.  They’re happening to people we know, they’re happening to people you know.  Sadly, your turn may be next.

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  • http://Salem-News.com Bonnie King

    Thank you so much for your attention to Erna’s story and this plight that is causing so much suffering. This case is specifically disheartening, and will hopefully find resolution for Erna. Until I began investigating this story, I had no idea how widespread this horrible behavior is, and how “loved ones” have taken advantage, often legally, of so many people. Shocking! Only standing together and refusing to condone these ruthless action will change anything….across the Nation.
    Stay strong, and thanks for all you’re doing!

  • Cheryl Boldt

    Thanks you both for the information you have shared with others. I have seen the heartache this case has had on Erna Boldt over the past 10 years. When she had a stroke, her son, who lives in Santa Rosa, CA, was notified by a family friend and he refused to help his mother. If he would simply return her stock, it would be of tremendous help to her. Yet he works in wealth managment with other people’s money! Keep up the good work.

  • Maritza Torrent

    I am from Miami, Florida, my mother and I have been victimized by Judge Maria M. Korvick the probate administrative judge over my mother’s case. It is easy for anyone to say that the son/daughter “refused to hloep his mother”, I can speak not only for myself, but for a group of people I have “found”, contacted and keep in touch with about our cases, and I can tell you first hand, that I for one hired an atty. to file my application to become my mother guardian, other’s had a living will. None of us were appointed guardians… The good Judge, ORDER my mother to say in a REHAB/nursing home, which I had complain of abusing mother, the good competent judge, even appointed my brother who is in a psychiatric disability and did not have a guardianship application on file, GUARDIAN OF MOTHER’S ASSESTS… this is against the Florida Statutes and anyone’s logic! they left mother blind, full of scars, with a cancerous growth for a year before they even took care of it, and of course a paper in court saying that mother was an INDIGENT. I am surprised that the district attorney’s office became involved in the article here written! When I visited the same agency here in Miami, I was told that they did not intervene in civil matters… after thousand of dollars, sufferingand all of mother’s assests “her home” was taken, the same judge,appointed me Guardian of the Person…My mentally ill brother is still the Guardian of the “Property” that no longer exists! (He used to practice law / be an attorney).
    You have my name, you can see my mother Estela on the National Association to Stop Guardian Abuse (NASGA)Portal- see victims the same day of the closing on her home…I am still waiting for Justice.