One For The Home Team
by Ruth Tick
(Venice, Florida)
Pro Se Litigant Sues her Attorney and Wins
Like so many legal battles this one dragged on. For over a year, Beebee fought to recover the money she paid an attorney who didn’t do his job.
The attorney, we’ll call him Mr. X had been hired to do two things: Prepare the documents for a voluntary guardianship; and: Prepare the documents for a trust. Beebee paid Mr. X roughly $5,000 and waited.
Mr. X completed the guardianship paperwork in about 30 days. Fair enough, although certainly not a hard task, since it was voluntary on all sides.
Beebee became the legal guardian of her youngest son who had suffered for most of his life from mental illness -- diagnosed as a teenager with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
Now in his forties Beebee’s youngest son, had fallen off the deep end one too many times. He was Baker Acted four times in three months; attempted suicide; went on a manic plastic spending spree; and took a taxicab to another city hundreds of miles away and then couldn’t remember where or why he’d gone.
He thought the CIA owed him millions of dollars; and that he communicated telepathically with his sister. Before the time came when Beebee saw no other choice than to become her youngest son’s guardian, he had led a somewhat normal life.
The multiple falls off the deep end may have been caused by his medication not working anymore. Or may have been caused by his young wife leaving him a few months before her green card became permanent.
The purpose of the trust that Mr. X was hired to create was to protect the assets of Beebee’s youngest son before he squandered what was left. Although Beebee’s son had inherited from his father a good amount of money years before, his house was his only remaining asset.
Beebee did not want to see her son sell his house, spend the money, and then have nowhere to go. The purpose of the trust was to put the proceeds from the sale of the house beyond his reach, if he were to sell it. His trust could take care of him, if necessary.
Months went by and Mr. X never created the trust documents. Beebee received an invoice requesting additional money for hours spent researching options and alternatives; but never received even a rough draft of any trust document.
Beebee didn’t pay the bill, she sent it back and questioned it item by item; pointing out that she had not entered into a retainer agreement, but had paid a flat fee for legal services. Beebee also pointed out that she hadn’t asked Mr. X to research options and alternatives.
She repeatedly telephoned Mr. X’s office to inquire about his progress preparing the trust documents; and never received a return call. In fact, the only time Beebee ever actually spoke to Mr. X himself was at the first consultation when she gave him the $5000.
Much later Beebee found out that Mr. X had actually produced one draft of the trust documents, but had never sent them to her. Instead, Mr. X had sent them to the son. The son was by then, behaving relatively reasonably, but remained mentally unstable. More importantly, the son was not Mr. X’s client -- Beebee was.
As was bound to happen, Beebee’s son came up with the wild idea to sell his house. A wild idea not only because he would likely blow whatever money he made. But also, because at that time and still today, the real estate market was deeply depressed, in crisis, and nobody that didn’t have to would sell their house in that market because they would take a huge financial beating. But, he called up a realtor and listed it for sale anyway.
Beebee asked her other children to help. Beebee’s other children had been hearing from Beebee the whole time of her trouble with Mr. X. All had been reluctant to intervene, because, after all, Beebee had already hired an attorney. Beebee’s expressed intention and then follow through of becoming the guardian of her youngest son was not fully supported by her daughters or other son.
They thought it would be too much for her. They thought that at age 89 she was too old to be anyone’s guardian. Beebee ignored them or snapped back, saying that no one else would do it. And she was likely right. The siblings were weary of their brother. The youngest son had been barely tolerated or avoided altogether for years; for showing off his money, and causing his mother grief.
Reluctant to intervene, but more than willing to help, Beebee’s daughters created trust documents over one weekend. They researched the issues and found the laws online. They discovered what words must be included to create a spendthrift trust, the assets of which Beebee’s son could not squander; and no creditor could seize.
After that, the daughters prepared a quitclaim deed transferring ownership of the house to the trust. The trust was created, and the property was safely beyond his reach and beyond the reach of the creditors swarming after him. Now it didn’t matter whether he sold it or not.
Beebee’s next project was to recover the money she had paid to Mr. X to create the trust. He had well over a year to get it done, and had not produced. Beebee wrote him a letter asking for her money back. No response. Beebee wrote a letter to the Florida Bar Association asking them to help her get her money back.
Their response was weak, stating that they had no actual authority in these matters. The letter, however, went on to say that perhaps Beebee might consider taking Mr. X to small claims court.
Debating with herself for months -- she asked herself whether it was worth pursuing, whether she would win if she did pursue. In her case, she was not just going up against another consumer or businessperson in court, she was challenging an attorney on his own turf.
A sticking point in her reasoning, was whether it was worthwhile to pay the filing fee, around $200., and not be certain she would get anything back. She could have more money gone, and more time lost.
When Beebee discovered that there was such a thing as an Application for Civil Indigent Status, her first reaction was that she would not qualify. The fact that her entire income is social security proved to be the key. She qualified to have her court filing fee waived, so she went for it.
Beebee sued Mr. X for $2500. half of the amount she had paid -- figuring he had completed half the job. Court day came. Small claims cases are always sent to a mediator first. When Beebee discovered that Mr. X had prepared a counter suit, she told the judge that maybe she wanted to go straight to the court hearing and skip the mediation. The judge assured her that she could still have a court hearing if they weren’t able to come to an agreement. They mediated.
Beebee stood her ground. Afterward, she said that the mediator was especially interested in the part about Mr. X sending a draft of the trust to her son, who was not Mr. X’s client. And she said that Mr. X was especially disgruntled that because of her, he was now under investigation by The Florida Bar Association. The outcome was a stipulated settlement where Mr. X must pay Beebee $1,000. within 45 days. Not perfect, but good enough.
About the Author: Ruth is a writer, artist, and entrepreneur. You can reach her at floridalegalforms@yahoo.com
