Lawyer Funnels Money Out of Trust Fund

Case Overview

In this case, the defendant attorney was asked to serve as a manager of a trust fund. The trustors had previously owned a large business, and had begun to sell many of the company’s assets at the time of the trust’s creation. In order to mitigate taxes so that the family could maximize their charitable donations and provide money for their children and grandchildren, the originators of the trust had an estate plan created with their attorney, who was given greater and greater control over the trust and its assets over the course of several years. Eventually, one of the trustees contacted another attorney friend regarding the original lawyer’s actions as manager and trustee, and the attorney ultimately convinced the plaintiffs that and the others involved in the estate plan (i.e. the estate planning attorney, insurance agents, etc. created and administered the estate plan as as scam and scheme to steal the family’s money.