Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:01/17/2025

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  On February 13 ***** I paid Ms. ***** a retainer of $5,000 to settle my mothers estate in probate court. She never filed anything with the court to even recognize her as the probate attorney. She lied about filing paperwork to the court , and I confronted her in August of 2024, and she got irrate with me and informed me that she had earned the $5,000 at the time I signed the contract. She refusesto refund my money.

  Business Response

  Date: 02/06/2025

  I was hired by *** ******** to assist him in probating his mother's estate.  I did not file anything because there was nothing to file.  *** ******** mispresented the case to me.
  He brought me issues that were already litigated or had no merit.
  *** ******** said that I had time to review his file before he paid his retainer of $5,000.00. I reviewed a small portion of the file. He brought additional documents every time we me.  He provided documents that had nothing to do with the estate and documents that were incomplete.
  The issues *** ******** presented are as follows:
  His interest in the real property had been fraudulently quit claimed from him to his brother, **** *********
  The estate was deprived assets, i.e. the personal property owned by his mother upon her death.
  The bank where the decedent had her checking account dispersed the funds in that account to **** ********, rather than the estate.
  The rent proceeds from the decedent's real property.
  ALL the "facts" of this case were misrepresented to me by *** ************************** REGARDING DECEDENTS REAL PROPERTY. Mr ******** told me that his interest in the real property owned by his parents had been fraudulently quit claimed from him to his brother, **** *********
  
  
  *** ********s parents owned real property in *****************  The senior ********s signed a Quit Claim Deed to their children and grandchildren (they retained a life estate) many years before they died.  *** ******** told me that he was going through a divorce some years ago and did not want his wife to be awarded anything from that real property (this is a violation of the Tennessee statute) He said that he decided to quit claim his interest in the real property to his children. 
  ****** ******** quit claimed his interest in the real property to his brother, **** ********* ****** ******** insisted that he did not sign the Quit Claim Deed vesting his interest in **** *************** When I saw the document, it looked like a perfectly legitimate Quit Claim Deed. He said that the attorney who prepared the document was to blame. He wanted me to file suit against her. He wanted me to arrange a meeting for us with that attorney. I would not do neither.  There is no evidence that there was foul intent or negligence on the part of the other attorney.  A lawsuit would be frivolous. 
  At one point, he became angry because he thought that the other attorney and I are friends. I think I referred to her as a friend.  We are not friends who socialize, but we are acquainted. Weve had a couple of cases against each other. He became angry again when he thought that the other attorney and I went to law school together. We were not in the same class but went to the same law school.  I did not know the other attorney until I had a case against her many years after I began my ************ ******** quickly jumps to conclusions without listening to what he is being told.  
  As it turns out, *** ******** took $60,000.00 from his parents in exchange for quit claiming his interest in the real property to his brother, **** *************** *** ******** knew all along that the quit claim deed was legitimate.  He knew (and knows today) that there was no issued.
  
  Issue regarding the personal property.
  *** ******** claimed that the estate was deprived assets, i.e. the personal property owned by his mother upon her death.  When he hired me, he knew that it was not true.  He misrepresented these facts to me. 
  I would imagine that there were items of personal property left after ******* ******** died.  Chancellor ** ***** entered an Order that ****** ******** could go to the decedents former property to make an inventory of the personal property. When he arrived, his brother, **** ********, would not allow him to enter the property.  ****** ******** filed a Motion for Contempt against **** ******** for not allowing ****** ******** to enter the property. The judge dismissed the Motion for Civil Contempt because it was filed as a Motion and not a Petition.
  *** ******** was upset that there was personal property that was sold by his brother, **** ******** and that the proceeds of the sale should have gone into the estate account.  ****** ******** also believed that there were other valuable items of property secreted by **** *************** I believed *** *************** I wanted to take **** ********s deposition to discovery the whereabouts of the personal property of the decedent. I set a deposition, but before going forward, I found an Order from the Chancery Court in **************** that indicated that ****** ******** and **** ********, in open Court, acknowledged the sale of the decedents personal property and that they agreed that the proceeds of the sale would go to ****** ******** (their brother).  If I remember correctly, the remaining property that did not sell was placed in a barn. 
  When Chancellor ***** dismissed the Motion for Civil Contempt upon that technicality, ****** ******** who was present for the hearing, agreed that the property was sold and the proceeds went to Stoney ******** 
  *** ******** told me about that hearing several times.  However, *********** did not mention that the issue regarding the personal property was disposed of on that day.  He misrepresented the facts to me. 
  If I had gone through with the deposition, *** ******** could have ordered to pay sanctions to the other attorney. 
  Issue regarding the bank
  *** ******** told me that the bank where the decedent had her checking account dispersed the funds in that account to **** ********,rather than the estate.  That might have been the only truthful statement he made.
  The bank upon the decedents death, in fact, emptied the checking account and placed it in the possession of **** ******** (the decedents son and an heir-at-law). When this was brought to the attention of *** ****** ********, as the administrator, he confronted the bank.  The bank admitted their mistake. *** ****** ******** as the administrator of the estate was made whole when the bank issued a check to the estate for the amount that was in the decedents checking account.
  
  ****** ******** wanted to file suit against the bank. I told him that I could not do
  that because the bank had paid the estate what it was owed.  Someone made mistake and he believed that the bank should pay for what it did. There were no other damages for which we could file suit.
  
             *********** also believed that his parents had opened accounts for their grandchildren and made deposits over the years.  *********** could not find those accounts at their bank.  The bank researched it but found nothing.  *** ******** filed a complaint with the Office of Comptroller of Currency.  He also contacted Senator **** *******.  He went to great lengths to find this information that does not exist.  However, *** ******** believes that his brother,**** ******** and the bank conspired to misappropriate those accounts.
  
  *** ******** wanted me to investigate it.  I told him that I could issue subpoenas to the bank.  If the Office of Comptroller of Currency could not locate any such accounts, I certainly could not.  As for the information that *** ******** believes that the bank withheld, there was a letter in the file that a search was done for the information
  *** ******** requested.  The letter said that there was no information as per his request. 
  
  I asked for certain bank statements from the decedents checking account to see if there was any proof. I was supposed to meet with *** ********s brother. He was going to bring the statements and meet with me as well as ****** ********* *** ********s brother did not show up. *** ******** appeared with his wife. We had a meeting.  A file with more documents were delivered.  When I received the statements I requested, I saw nothing in those statements that would leave me to believe that there were other accounts.
  If there had been other accounts for grandchildren,those accounts would have directly passed to those grandchildren.  Those account would not be part of the mothers estate.
  
   In a letter *** ******** addressed to me dated September 9, 2024, he stated that I agreed to file a lawsuit against the bank.  I did not agree to file suit against the bank.  That would be out of the scope of my representation.  Plus, it would likely be a federal lawsuit.  I would never agree to take a case that was in federal court or to be filed in federal court.  My contract with *** ******** plainly said that I was being retained to represent him in a probate matter.
  
   Issue regarding rent.
  
  
  *** ******** wanted me to file a motion to collect the rent from the real property. I thought it was a great idea. I believed that he had a legitimate cause of action. However, after researching that issue, I realize that when the real property passes outside of the estate,as in this case, any rent proceeds follow the real property. They are not part of the personality that belongs to the estate. So, I had to say no to filing a lawsuit.

  Everything *** ******** told me about his case was untrue.  

  There is a memo attached to his complaint to the BBB.  He did not create that memo.  It was created by an attorney in *******. Please notice that  the Memphis attorney based that memo on what he was told by *** ********* It is the same misrepresented information I received.

  
  If you would like further information, please do not hesitate to contact me.
  
  Respectfully,
  
  Paula **** *****
  

  
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 02/17/2025

  The complaint has not been resolved at this time. The business name is incorrect. It is The law Office of Paula Ogle ***** , so that may be the reason fo no response.