Opinion ID: 2096988
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The J.D. Estate Matter (Counts 1 through 7).

Text: ¶ 47 A Dane County circuit court commissioner filed a grievance with the OLR in May 2006 regarding Attorney Nunnery's handling of a probate matter involving the estate of J.D. The referee found Attorney Nunnery committed seven counts of professional misconduct with respect to J.D.'s estate: Count 1: Former SCR 20:1.3; Diligence. Count 2: Former SCRs 20:1.15(e) [16] and 20:1.15(f)b.; [17] Trust account and client records. Count 3: Former SCR 20:3.3(a)(1); Candor toward a tribunal. Count 4: Former SCR 20:3.4(c); [18] Fairness. Count 5: Former SCR 20:8.4(c); Dishonesty. Count 6: SCR 22.03(6) and former SCR 20:8.4(f); Misrepresentation to the OLR. Count 7: SCR 22.03(2) [19] and former SCR 20:8.4(f); Disclosure to the OLR. ¶ 48 In 1984 J.D. executed a will naming Attorney Nunnery as successor personal representative of his estate should his wife predecease him. In 1991 J.D. signed two durable powers of attorney naming Attorney Nunnery as his agent for financial management and healthcare. [20] ¶ 49 After J.D. was admitted to a nursing home in 1997, Attorney Nunnery assumed responsibility for J.D.'s health care and financial decisions. J.D.'s wife died in 1997 and J.D. died in 1999. At the time of his death, J.D. owned a home, a set of silver flatware, an antique sofa and other miscellaneous personal property. J.D. also owned a checking account titled, [J.D.] Willie Nunnery POA (POA Account), which Attorney Nunnery used before J.D.'s death to manage J.D.'s finances due to his failing health. ¶ 50 Attorney Nunnery began developing a plan to sell J.D.'s house and use the proceeds for J.D.'s care. On May 23, 1999, Attorney Nunnery signed, as J.D.'s POA, an acceptance of an offer to purchase J.D.'s house. The referee found that Attorney Nunnery misrepresented to the OLR that he had included POA on sales documents in error. ¶ 51 The referee found that between the date of J.D.'s death on April 30, 1999, and June 22, 1999, Attorney Nunnery did not obtain court authority to act on behalf of J.D.'s estate, including the authority to negotiate the sale of J.D.'s house, issue checks from the POA Account or sign any documents on J.D.'s or the estate's behalf. After Attorney Nunnery's powers expired upon J.D.'s death, Attorney Nunnery continued to represent himself as J.D.'s agent and signed documents as J.D.'s POA. ¶ 52 On June 22, 1999, Attorney Nunnery filed a special administration petition in Dane County probate court, seeking to be appointed special administrator of J.D.'s estate to complete the closing on the sale of J.D.'s house. The referee found Attorney Nunnery misrepresented on that petition the date of J.D.'s death as May 30, 1999, instead of April 30, 1999, to conceal the fact that he continued to represent himself as J.D.'s POA by issuing checks from J.D.'s POA Account between April 30, 1999, and June 22, 1999. Attorney Nunnery did not disclose to the probate court that he had already signed documents accepting the buyers' offer after J.D.'s death. ¶ 53 On June 25, 1999, Attorney Nunnery deposited into his pooled client trust account the proceeds from the sale of J.D.'s house totaling $84,684.91. Attorney Nunnery disbursed a number of checks to beneficiaries and to himself from the proceeds of the house sale. ¶ 54 The referee found that from June 1999 through April 2006, Attorney Nunnery did not bill the estate and did not maintain checking account records or any records of the services he provided or compensation due for his services to the estate. Also, Attorney Nunnery did not make any claims against the estate for fees beyond his legal fees. Attorney Nunnery did not maintain trust account records, including a cash receipts journal, a disbursements journal, a subsidiary client ledger for each client matter, a checkbook register, or journal entries for the assets belonging to J.D.'s estate. ¶ 55 In August 2000 Attorney Nunnery filed an application for an informal administration, which misrepresented J.D.'s date of death as May 30, 1999. Attorney Nunnery did not petition the court to name himself or anyone else as personal representative. Between May 21, 2001, and December 20, 2005, the probate court issued a series of orders requiring Attorney Nunnery to explain why the estate had not yet been closed. In June and December 2005 Attorney Nunnery failed to appear at hearings to show why the estate had not been closed. On December 20, 2005, the court ordered Attorney Nunnery removed as personal representative and attorney for the estate. ¶ 56 On March 2, 2006, the court ordered Attorney Nunnery to appear at the Dane County probate office and bring all records in his possession regarding the estate. Attorney Nunnery, along with another attorney whom Attorney Nunnery had retained, appeared in person before the commissioner. After receiving an extension to file estate documents, Attorney Nunnery provided an interim report of disbursements, showing a deposit of $84,684.91 into Attorney Nunnery's pooled client trust account. ¶ 57 The interim report identified nine disbursements between June 25, 1999, and December 28, 1999, totaling $55,925.81. The report did not, however, inform the court of certain disbursements totaling $18,000 by checks that contained notations they were for estate fees. The referee found Attorney Nunnery's business account would have been overdrawn if one of the checks for estate fees had not been deposited. ¶ 58 Also, Attorney Nunnery did not list the antique sofa or flatware set on the interim report, but informed the commissioner that these items were in storage at his office. The referee found, however, that the sofa was stored in a place where people could sit on it. [21] The referee found that Attorney Nunnery misrepresented to the probate court and to the OLR that he had stored J.D.'s sofa and flatware at his office. ¶ 59 The referee also determined that Attorney Nunnery misrepresented to the OLR he had not intended to pay himself substantially $28,749 of estate assets remaining in trust as of December 28, 1999. Attorney Nunnery did not disburse the estate's remaining assets after that day and, through his attorney, admitted that he had misused the funds. The referee found that Attorney Nunnery did not have the authority to make any of the disbursements that appeared on the interim report. ¶ 60 The referee found that in an April 10, 2006, report to the court commissioner, Attorney Nunnery stated he held the balance of the estate and assets and stood prepared to deliver those to the court as ordered. At the time he made this statement, however, he held none of the estate funds in his trust account. Attorney Nunnery had certified to the OLR that the information contained in the report was true and complete. ¶ 61 On April 21, 2006, Attorney Nunnery deposited estate funds with the circuit court via a cashier's check for $29,149.92. The money had not been disbursed from Attorney Nunnery's trust account, however, and Attorney Nunnery failed to respond to the OLR's request for the immediate source of the funds. The referee found Attorney Nunnery converted to his own use at least $30,450.48 from the estate's funds deposited in his trust account. The referee found that Attorney Nunnery failed to disclose his disbursements from the POA Account after J.D.'s death, failed to disclose the actual balance in the POA Account as of J.D.'s death, and failed to inform the court that he continued to write checks as J.D.'s agent after his power of attorney expired upon J.D.'s death. ¶ 62 The estate was eventually closed in 2007. Attorney Nunnery admitted he was completely wrong in how he handled the estate, notwithstanding other stressors in his life. Attorney Nunnery does not challenge the sufficiency of the evidence to support the referee's findings and conclusions with respect to counts 1 through 7 and makes no objection to restitution.