A lawyer in Encinitas, California has been ordered to $4.3 million dollars to the trust of a former client. Siv Ljungwe, who died in 2010, left her assets to a trust and named her estate attorney Carl Dimeff as the beneficiary. The validity of the trust was challenged by four non-profits that were named as beneficiaries by Ljungwe in a previously drafted trust. A Superior Court Judge found that improper influence by Dimeff on Ljungwe, who was suffering from mental illness, invalidated the later trust and ordered Dimeff to return the money he had received plus penalties and interest.
See Greg Moran, Attorney Ordered to Pay $4.5M to Trust, U-T San Diego, Dec. 31, 2014.
Special thanks to Brian Cohan (Attorney at Law, Law Offices of Brian J. Cohan, P.C.) for bringing this article to my attention.
