Transcript of document filed November 13, 2001
IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF CLARK COUNTY, WASHINGTON
of Deceased. |
) ) ) |
OBJECTIONS TO FINAL ACCOUNT AND REPORT AND PETITION FOR DISTRIBUTION AND APPROVAL OF ATTORNEY’S FEES AND DISCHARGE OF PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE AND AFFIDAVIT OF ATTORNEY’S FEES |
We, DAVID S. VAN BEEK, the biological son of ALVINA M. ROLOFF, and MICHAEL E. ROLOFF, the biological son of DAVID S. VAN BEEK and the grandson of ALVINA M. ROLOFF are heirs listed in her Last Will and Testament dated April 24, 2000.
We hereby file the following objections and requests of the Court:
I.
The Personal Representative of the Estate was also attorney-in-fact for ALVINA M. ROLOFF from February 20, 1991 to April 23, 2001 and from April 24, 2000 to February 7, 2001. Copies of the DURABLE POWER OF ATTORNEY instruments are attached hereto as Exhibit "A" and Exhibit "B". We have submitted more than ten written requests for fiduciary accounting on a voluntary basis to the Personal Representative, directly and through her attorney’s office. A summary of MICHAEL E. ROLOFF’s requests is attached hereto as Exhibit "C". We have not been able to review and copy original documents related to fiduciary accounting for reasons summarized in Exhibit "C".
We hereby request the Court to compel the attorney-in-fact, MARIE A. CHEATHAM, to submit a fiduciary accounting to the Court and to the heirs of the Estate of ALVINA M. ROLOFF, Deceased.
II.
The Personal Representative, MARIE A. CHEATHAM, failed to disclose a personal loan to her daughter, JOHANNA BICE in her Oath On Return Of Inventory dated March 12, 2001. More than four months later the Personal Representative disclosed the loan of $ 3,263.60 balance due from JOHANNA BICE for a loan to her by ALVINA M. ROLOFF.
We have reason to believe that there are other undisclosed loans made to the Personal Representative and/or her family and/or relatives. In the first week of February 2001 while ALVINA M. ROLOFF was in the hospital, MARIE A. CHEATHAM told MICHAEL E. ROLOFF and his wife that everyone in MARIE A. CHEATHAM’s family had loans outstanding from ALVINA M. ROLOFF.
CYNTHIA J. SAIKI, granddaughter of ALVINA M. ROLOFF and heir, in addition to ourselves requested to review documents that may disclose such loans – specifically the handwritten check registers, cancelled checks, the personal diaries, all investment accounts, all bank accounts, and other written documents of ALVINA M. ROLOFF. These documents were not provided to us. Furthermore, these same documents may contain information that clarifies the intent of ALVINA M. ROLOFF regarding her joint accounts, which the Personal Representative has excluded from the assets of the Estate, claiming that they are now her personal assets.
We hereby request the Court to compel the Personal Representative, MARIE A. CHEAHAM, to make available to the heirs the original or certified copies of documents, namely the handwritten check registers, cancelled checks, the personal diaries, all investment accounts, all bank accounts, and other written documents of ALVINA M. ROLOFF for review and copying.
III.
ALVINA M. ROLOFF had a disease that affected her brain and impaired her mental functions. This disease, Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy (PML), is listed on ALVINA M. ROLOFF’s Certificate Of Death. We requested authorization to obtain information and/or requested medical records of ALVINA M. ROLOFF from the Personal Representative. Our requests have been ignored. We have written documentation of the diagnosis of one of the symptoms of this disease, a type of cranial nerve palsy, from a handwritten letter dated 9/19/99 written by ALVINA M. ROLOFF. We have attached hereto a description of the disease PML as Exhibit "D". We desire to understand the degree of the effect over time that this brain disease had on ALVINA M. ROLOFF ‘s mental functioning. Some of her actions may be questionable based on the findings regarding her mental functioning, and may change the assets of her Estate.
We hereby request the Court to compel the Personal Representative to provide certified copies of medical records regarding ALVINA M. ROLOFF to the Court and to the heirs of the Estate.
IV.
We object to specific legal fees submitted by JILL R. KURTZ. Our objections are specified in Exhibit "E". The total amount of legal fees contested is $ 3,261.42.
We hereby request the Court to disapprove payment of the above-mentioned disputed legal fees.
V.
The Personal Representative, MARIE A. CHEATHAM, has caused financial loss to the Estate by her acts and omissions. She has caused unnecessary legal fees to be incurred from JILL R. KURTZ by her efforts to not cooperate with the heirs, by failing to include the youngest heir of the Estate in the first Petition For Distribution, by ignoring the REQUEST FOR SPECIAL NOTICE OF PROCEDINGS, by attempting to close the Estate while failing to respond to requests for information, by allowing her husband to be a client of JILL R. KURTZ at the expense of the Estate, by omitting the loan from her daughter, JOHANNA BICE as an asset of the Estate, by barring MICHAEL E. ROLOFF from the information meeting at the office of JILL R. KURTZ on September 10, 2001, by her refusal to provide a fiduciary accounting as the attorney-in-fact of ALVINA M. ROLOFF before her death, by falsely claiming that documents and letters were sent to MICHAEL E. ROLOFF, by omitting joint accounts from the assets of the Estate and by accusing MICHAEL E. ROLOFF of causing her personal computer to become infected with a virus or viruses.
For months she ignored requests for information on a voluntary basis. She refused to submit to a formal deposition and provide the documents requested. She did not agree to an informal meeting to answer questions until she was convinced that DAVID S. VAN BEEK’s attorney was going to file a complaint. She barred MICHAEL E. ROLOFF from the informal meeting held on September 10, 2001 at the office of JILL R. KURTZ. There is no transcript of that meeting.
We hereby request the Court to remove MARIE A. CHEATHAM as Personal Representative and appoint a successor Personal Representative and remove JILL R. KURTZ as the attorney for the Estate.
VI.
Attachments:
Exhibit "A": DURABLE POWER OF ATTORNEY dated February 20, 1991.
Exhibit "B": DURABLE POWER OF ATTORNEY dated April 24, 2001.
Exhibit "C": Letter to JILL R. KURTZ and MARIE A. CHEATHAM dated November 5, 2001.
Exhibit "D": Description of Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy (PML).
Exhibit "E": Objections to legal fees submitted by JILL R. KURTZ.
DAVID S. VAN BEEK |
MICHAEL E. ROLOFF |
Date: _________________________ Date: _________________________________