Opinion ID: 1302818
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Probate Matters.

Text: The estate of Dorcas L. Hoff was opened on September 16, 1981, and Miller was designated as attorney. It was a small estate, consisting only of a parcel of real estate valued at $4000. Title problems arose on the proposed sale of the real estate, but Miller made virtually no effort to cure them. As various filing deadlines passed, Miller received a notice of delinqency from the clerk of district court and inquiries from the ethics committee, which had received a complaint from the executor. Despite the delinquency notice and the committee inquiries, the estate continued to languish in inaction. At the commission hearing, attorney Miller candidly admitted he [hadn't] the faintest idea how to close the estate and, at the time of the commission hearing in January 1987, it was apparently still open. A second complaint, consolidated for hearing before the commission, concerned the estate of Leo A. Weber, which had been opened by Miller on May 21, 1985. On November 1, 1985, the clerk of district court notified Miller that he was delinquent in the filing of the probate inventory. Miller failed to cure the delinquency, and a complaint was filed with the ethics committee. The committee sent several letters urging Miller to cure the delinquency. He ignored the letters, despite the fact they warned him of possible disciplinary proceedings. As of the commission hearing, the inventory still had not been filed. While Miller testified he was an alcoholic who had been sober for only nine months as of the time of the hearing, he did not blame this problem for his mishandling of the estates. He offered no explanation except he was over his head when he got into probate matters. We agree with the commission that the following violations of the Code of Professional Responsibility were established by a convincing preponderance of the evidence, see Committee on Professional Ethics & Conduct v. Crawford, 351 N.W.2d 530, 531 (1984): DR 1-102(A)(1) (violation of disciplinary rules); DR 1-102(A)(5) (conduct prejudicial to administration of justice); DR 1-102(A)(6)(engaging in conduct adversely reflecting on fitness to practice law); DR 6-101(A)(1) (handling of legal matters which lawyer is not competent to handle); DR 6-101(A)(3) (neglect of legal matter entrusted to lawyer); DR 7-101(A)(2) (failure to carry out contract of employment with client); EC 6-1 (failure to act with competence and proper care); EC 6-4 (failure to qualify and to prepare adequately for legal work).