(Photo: zimmytws/Shutterstock)Ex-Client Sues Austin Estate Planning Firm Over Trust
Justin Wayne LaPree of Austin alleges errors in family trust documents prepared by Brink Bennett Flaherty Golden and partner Rhonda Brink cost him $1.15 million in a divorce.
October 21, 2019 at 04:27 PM
2 minute read
Austin estate planning and tax firm Brink Bennett Flaherty Golden and partner Rhonda Brink are facing allegations by a former client that they were negligent in establishing a family trust, costing him $1.15 million in a divorce.
Justin Wayne LaPree alleged in a petition filed Thursday in state district court in Travis County that Brink made "apparent errors in the estate planning context" that led to a dispute in his divorce from his wife, Kelly Marie LaPree.
Justin LaPree is seeking damages including $1.15 million he alleges is community property, and more than $200,000 in attorney fees he allegedly spent on litigation over the trust.
Brink, who is a principal in Brink Bennett, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the case.
As alleged in the petition, Justin and Kelly LaPree hired Brink and Brink Bennett in June 2017 to prepare estate planning documents, wills, trusts and related documents after Kelly LaPree inherited about $2.3 million from her grandparents.
"Justin and Kelly made clear to Brink that they considered all current assets, including the $2.3 million inheritance, to be community property," LaPree alleged in the petition.
The petition alleged that Brink made notes indicating that Kelly LaPree "chooses" to treat the $2.3 million inheritance as "community/joint property." Additionally, LaPree alleged, Brink promised to prepare the necessary documents to "effectuate the conversion of any separate property such as Kelly's inheritance" into community property as instructed.
According to the petition, Kelly LaPree filed for divorce on Aug. 24, 2018, and moved for a summary judgment that all of the assets in the family trust were her separate property.
In May, the trial judge hearing the divorce granted a summary judgment against Justin LaPree, alleging the trust did not meet Texas family code requirements to convert separate property to community property.
Justin LaPree has alleged the defendants' failure to draft appropriate estate planning documents has cost him more than $200,000 in litigation costs and has deprived him of more than $1.15 million.
Plaintiffs attorney David Kassab, of Kassab Law Firm of Houston, did not immediately respond to a call seeking comment.
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