By Ella Napack
State-contracted attorney Kristan Exner, under scrutiny for selling homes of people she served as a fiduciary for to her business partner, is facing an investigation by a Connecticut grievance panel. The Statewide Bar Counsel's office is reviewing her conduct as a conservator and court-appointed fiduciary, according to an attorney for Exner.
Exner sold two homes to her business partner, Joseph Garin, while serving as a professional fiduciary without disclosing the business relationship to the probate court, records show. Both homes were re-sold by Garin within months, in one case for more than two times what he purchased it for, according to property records. Garin declined to comment for this story.
A judge on one of the cases referred her conduct to the state’s bar committee after the new information came to light regarding Exner's relationship to Garin in the home sale of Milford resident Barbara Tobin. An attorney for Exner confirmed in a probate court hearing last month that a panel was formally investigating the matter as part of the Statewide Bar Counsel's review process.
The judge referred the conduct after an attorney for Robert Tobin, the son of Barbara Tobin, put forward a motion to have Exner disbarred for potentially breaking conflict of interest and perjury rules. The Tobins declined to comment for this story.
“There is no doubt that the very serious nature of the allegations raised in Robert Tobin’s amended motion for permanent disbarment of Kristan Exner need to be addressed,” probate judge Ben Gettinger wrote in a February decree after the hearing on the motion. Instead of adjudicating the issue in his courtroom, Gettinger opted for the bar counsel investigation to run its course, noting that he would then determine if the investigation “adequately addressed the specific allegations in this case.” In his decree, Gettinger noted it was unclear whether he had any jurisdiction to rule on the misconduct, raising a question over how to handle the process.
The matter is currently before a local grievance panel that will investigate the case before either dismissing it or moving it to a public hearing. When asked by a CT Insider reporter about the grievance investigation and Gettinger's decree, Exner provided an email statement.
"The grievance process in Connecticut is complex, private and self-governing. It is there to ensure that as attorneys, we continue to maintain high standards of practice," said Exner. "Rule 3.6 of the Rules of Professional Responsibility sets limitations on attorneys making extra judicial statements, and addresses any attorney who would attempt to utilize the press to prejudice the process. For anyone to speculate or gossip on the process and procedures is unprofessional and disrespectful to those who give of their time.”
Exner remains working on probate matters across the state as a conservator contracted by the state's probate administration, records show. The probate administration, the state's operational oversight body for the probate courts, has told CT Insider that it does not have disciplinary authority over conservator conduct. Although some conservators, like Exner, are attorneys and remain accountable to the state's bar counsel, there are no overarching oversight structures for the professional conservators that sometimes juggle dozens - or even hundreds - of cases across multiple courts.
The contract for state-paid conservators, however, allows the probate administration to terminate a conservator's contract if they have broken the state's Conservator Standards of Practice. Even if a professional conservator's contract with the state is terminated, they may still be eligible to be paid hourly by the state for other conservatorships.
While probate records do not indicate that the administration has terminated Exner’s contract, some probate judges, like Gettinger, have opted not to appoint Exner to future cases until the matter is resolved.
“In addition, given the totality of the circumstances surrounding this case, the Court will not appoint Kristan Exner to any of its files indefinitely,” Gettinger wrote in the February decree.
The probate administration declined to answer questions on the status of Exner's contract with the state or whether it has audited any of her accounts.
Attorney Damon Kirschbaum, who represents the Tobins, first wrote to the probate administration about “rogue conservator Kristan Exner” in June 2024. Exner had been removed as Tobin’s conservator but remained involved as an “interested party" as the Tobins were fighting to regain ownership of the home.
“I am and will be imploring you, the Probate Court Administration, and Judge Gettinger to protect Barbara Tobin from Kristan Exner,” Kirschbaum wrote in the email, which was obtained from a Freedom of Information request to the probate administration.
The emails show that Kirschbaum and an attorney for the probate administration had a conversation about Exner, subsequently.
Kirschbaum wrote to the administration again in October, informing the administration of a motion he filed requesting the permanent disbarment of Exner in light of the new information on Exner's connection to her business partner Garin to whom she sold the Tobin's home. The business partners owned a limited liability company together, according to secretary of the state records.
“Exner’s conduct demonstrates that she is unfit to serve as a fiduciary. It is my understanding that Exner serves as a probate court-appointed fiduciary in a significant number of probate court cases across the state,” Kirschbaum said in the letter. “I am writing to bring this situation to Your Honor’s attention so that Your Honor can take the appropriate steps to protect other vulnerable people from Exner.”
The administration said in an October meeting that it was reviewing the letter. In statements to CT Insider in the months since, the administration has said it does not have authority to intervene on court matters.
"Any matter pending before a Probate Court is a judicial proceeding within the exclusive jurisdiction of the court," said attorney Evan Brunetti, director of external affairs for the probate administration. "We cannot intervene or comment on a matter before any court, the adjudicative/decision making process of a Probate Judge, or direct that any court take any particular action."
Mairead Painter, the state's Long Term Care Ombudsman, explained that many professional conservators work across multiple courts and that one probate court may not know about misconduct that occurred in a different court.
"If concerns come up in several courts about the same conservator, a judge isn't going to know that unless they're given the information," said Painter. "We need some way to have that information sharing in an appropriate way between probate courts so there is a higher level of accountability there."
Painter said the state needs to find more accountability structures that can work in tandem with the probate administration.
“We have good standards, it’s holding people accountable to them,” said Painter.
CT state-paid attorney under investigation for selling homes to business partner
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