Court was right to nix $12M will payout to drafting lawyer but should have resurrected prior bequest
A Florida probate court properly invalidated a 1994 will that largely left an elderly woman’s $12 million estate to the drafting attorney and two others, including his legal assistant.
However, it erred by ruling that Virginia Murphy’s assets should be distributed under intestacy provisions, a Florida appellate court ruled (PDF) last month.
That’s because Murphy, who executed half a dozen wills with the help of her longtime lawyer, Jack Carey, during a five-year period before her 2006 death at age 107, clearly did not want to die intestate.
Hence, since an “overall pattern of similarity” existed between the wills, broadly speaking, the presumption of dependent relative revocation should have been applied, with the help of extrinsic evidence, explained the 2nd District Court of Appeal. Under this approach, a residuary bequest to any individual or entity untainted by the undue influence exerted by Carey and legal assistant Gloria DuBois could be resurrected.
Although the wills also made specific bequests, the bulk of the estate was its residuary assets. A 1992 will listed Carey and DuBois as residuary beneficiaries, along with second cousin Jacqueline “Jackie” Rocke, one of the few of Murphy’s many relatives who was in touch with her in later life. The 1992 will also made Murphy’s accountant, who predeceased her, a residuary beneficiary.
With the other three residuary beneficiaries dead or disqualified, Rocke is to get the bulk of the estate, according to the appellate opinion, which remanded the matter back to the probate court for further proceedings.
Carey, who had represented Murphy for nearly 25 years, was “an esteemed lawyer and a former city councilman, FBI agent, and Army Air Corps veteran,” the appeals court notes. Yet he “succumbed to the temptation to pursue a pecuniary windfall at the expense of a frail and susceptible client. Sadly, the pall of this case cast a long shadow over an otherwise exemplary professional reputation.”
Carey was disbarred in 2010 over his handling of Murphy’s will, according to a Florida Bar web page. A Florida Bar legal ethics complaint (PDF) provides more details.
He died last year, as the will case was still being litigated, according to a Tampa Bay Times obituary.
Hat tip: Legal Profession Blog and Sun Ethics
Related coverage:
Tampa Bay Times (2008): “A will casts a shadow on a prominent lawyer who stands to gain millions”
