Elder Law

WWII vet reaches fundraising goal in effort to prevent his daughter from evicting him

Posted May 16, 2013 7:49 AM CDT
By Debra Cassens Weiss

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John Potter and his granddaughter Jaclyn Fraley.
Photo from GoFundMe.

A World War II veteran who claimed breach of fiduciary duty by his daughter in a lawsuit is now trying to prevent her from evicting him with a fundraising appeal that reached its goal on Thursday.
John Potter, 91, lived in his Zaleski, Ohio, home for 56 years, report ABC News, Gawker, NBC4i.com and AOL Real Estate. According to a lawsuit he filed in 2011, he had given power of attorney to his daughter, who transferred the property to herself and her husband in 2004. An appeals court tossed the suit on statute of limitations grounds in a decision (PDF) last year, citing evidence that Potter was aware of the transfer in 2004. Now the daughter is seeking to evict Potter.
Potter transferred power of attorney to his granddaughter, Jaclyn Fraley, who launched the fundraising appeal on GoFundMe in hopes she could buy the property for Potter. She told AOL Real Estate that Potter’s daughter had filed the eviction papers after a dispute between them over visitation rights to Potter’s autistic son. Potter’s son-in-law had told NBC4i.com that Potter could remain in the home if he would “stop the lawsuits.”
In a post at GoFundMe on Thursday, Fraley said her goal of raising $125,000 to buy back Potter’s home had been reached. "Thank you all!" Fraley wrote. "Those words seem so shallow compared to what I feel. All of your hearts reaching out to him is such an amazing gift."
Fraley also thanked their attorney Timothy Gleeson and his wife Nancy. "They have fought with us since this all started and have gone above and beyond what any other attorney would do," she wrote. "Tim has worked endlessly to help us. He is so dedicated to this fight. He has spent so much time searching for ways to help Grandpa and helping me get though this ordeal on the hardest days."
Updated on May 18 to add a quote from Fraley about their attorney.