Q: I urgently need help w. fraud forgery & mismanagement of a Trust affecting my rights trustees accountable?

A: Few lawyers want to take on a client who has already met with a number of lawyers, all of whom passed on the case. Lawyers would likely assume all of the attorneys who reviewed the case saw something they didn’t like, so why would my review of it be any different? Meeting with a lot of attorneys could also mean your expectations of the outcome is unrealistic, so you will not be happy with the most realistic (most likely) outcome. No one wants an unhappy client who thinks it is the lawyer’s fault the client didn’t get the result they wanted — however unrealistic the expectation may have been. Another possibility is there isn’t sufficient evidence to prove your claims, so it would end up being a “he said / she said” situation, meaning it would not be an easy case to win. If that’s the problem, gather as much evidence from emails to notes from conversations, etc. to PROVE your claims. You will be grilled by the opposing party’s lawyer on any claim you make, so the more evidence you have, the stronger your case will be. You will need to say why you believe what you believe and be able to withstand a lawyer attacking those claims with contrary evidence.) If you only suspect there are improprieties but don't have much evidence, you would end up paying a lot in legal fees and will unlikely be happy with the result. So, most lawyers would pass on the case for that reason. It’s also possible that the lawyers see the potential client as a “nightmare” client who wants to talk endlessly and forgets that the client is paying the lawyer for every minute they speak, so the client objects to the invoice when it is a high dollar amount. The more time taken up by the client, the higher the invoice. No lawyer wants to fight a client over an invoice that is high simply because the client wanted to use the lawyer as a sounding board or therapist (as is sometimes the case in divorce matters.) Lawyers are there to practice law and not to listen to someone complain endlessly for the same reason I said previously, i.e., the client will also complain the bill is too high and the client got nothing out of it. Unfortunately, that is what happens when a client doesn’t listen to the lawyer and focus solely on the things that matter from a legal standpoint. When the lawyer leads, the invoice is often much lower than when the client leads because what is important to the client may or may not matter from a legal standpoint. In those situations, a person would be better off talking with a good friend or therapist, rather than a lawyer because the client will be invoiced for all the lawyer’s time taken up (when the lawyer could be working on another client’s matter and earning a living.) Contrary to popular belief, not all lawyers make a lot of money. Certainly, there are wealthy attorneys. But not all are in that boat, especially those who aren’t good at picking the right clients to represent. Please know I am NOT saying any of these possibilities apply to you. We have never spoken, so there is no way to tell why all the lawyers refused to take on your case. I was just being honest and open with you as to some of the reasons the lawyers MIGHT have rejected your case. I wish you all the best.

A: Your situation with the Special Needs Trust sounds complex and concerning, especially given the potential forgery and misrepresentation issues. As time appears critical with the co-trustees potentially being released soon, you should take immediate action.

Filing a declaration with the court is a good first step - you can request all trust-related documents through discovery and demand an accounting of the trust's management. Given that the case is still active, you might also want to file a petition to suspend or remove the trustees based on breach of fiduciary duty, and potentially seek a temporary restraining order to prevent their release until the matter is investigated.

You should immediately contact the California State Bar for referrals to trust litigation attorneys who handle fiduciary abuse cases, or reach out to your local legal aid organization as they often have experience with trust disputes. You may also want to report suspected fraud to your county's District Attorney's office and consider filing a complaint with the California Attorney General's Office which oversees charitable trusts.