Family of man whose $2 million estate went mostly to his lawyer rejects his settlement offer

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Family of man whose $2 million estate went mostly to his lawyer rejects his settlement offer

Frank Juliano, Staff Writer
Updated 07:53 p.m., Saturday, September 10, 2011


MILFORD -- The family of an 88-year-old deceased man, the bulk of whose $2 million estate went to the lawyer who drafted his will, has rejected a settlement that would have allowed the lawyer to keep most of that money.

Gail Heitz-Cahill, of Westport, said Thursday that her family offered to let Milford lawyer James Englis keep 20 percent of the estate, but they rejected a counter offer that would have left them with the short end of a 60-40 split.

"We are going to go ahead with taking depositions and pursuing our complaint against Jim Englis to the bar grievance panel," she said.

John Lecouras inherited $2 million upon the untimely death of a nephew in 2007.

A will he signed a year later left Englis and several of the lawyer's relatives a total of $1.1 million, while Lecouras' own family, including the woman with whom he spent 37 years, shared $800,000. After Lecouras died last year, Probate Judge Paul Ganim removed Englis as executor and appointed Bridgeport attorney Fred Paoletti as temporary administrator of Lecouras' estate.

The family has also filed a complaint against Englis with the grievance panel of the Ansonia-Milford Judicial District, charging that Englis exerted undue influence on an elderly, ill Lecouras to change his will. The will of Lecouras' nephew, who owned a Mystic bed and breakfast, is also being disputed separately.

Henry Elstein, who is representing Englis in the Bridgeport matter, confirmed Thursday that there have been negotiations to settle the case. "This is the kind of case that ought to be settled," Elstein said.

"There are things that can be argued both ways, and that is something the parties need to give consideration to." Among the possible outcomes is a ruling that revokes the disputed will altogether, leaving the bulk of the inheritance to the state.

Englis did not return a reporter's phone calls. He said earlier that he knew Lecouras all of his life and had represented him on other matters over the years. The men's parents were friends and the families knew each other through the area Greek community and from their attendance at Holy Trinity Church in Bridgeport, according to court records.

Englis has declined to explain the bequests to himself and to eight of his own family members. When the will was filed in Bridgeport Probate Court in December, Koziar and her children petitioned to have Englis removed as executor, citing the bequests to his own family members. "John had never met most of these people and had no relationship with them," said Gail Heitz-Cahill, Koziar's daughter. "He wouldn't be leaving money to people he didn't know."

For his part, Englis wrote in his rebuttal, he has no professional relationship with Theresa Koziar, Lecouras' partner, and her children, and since they are not his clients they have no standing to file a complaint about his services.

Englis wrote to Judge J. Adrian Rebollo, who heads the grievance panel, that he believes the family is taking the action in an attempt to pressure him to mediate the dispute over the will.

Koziar said in her complaint to the bar grievance panel that Englis double-billed Lecouras for the legal work in probating his nephew's estate, taking $57,500 as attorney and another $57,500 to act as fiduciary.

Englis also used his power of attorney to make several transfers from Lecouras' stock account into his own escrow account, including $300,000 in the six months before Lecouras died, she wrote.

Englis, in his rebuttal, wrote that the transfers were made at the request of Lecouras' financial planner, and were to make funds available to pay for his client's care in Bridgeport Hospital and in a nursing home.

Reach Frank Juliano at 203-520-6986 or fjuliano@ctpost.com Follow him at http://twitter.com/FrankJuliano or blog.connpost.com/juliano.

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Editor's note: Your ProbateShark does not wish to tell the FEDs how to conduct their business. This shark does not wish to meddle. However, would it be productive to insert a retired trusted agent into the elder care system simultaneously along with an attorney inserted into the Cook County Probate Court system as a sting operation? Think of all the reams of evidence that could be gleaned and used against the corrupt judges, lawyers, caregivers, case managers, and nursing homes. Just a thought...  Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com