Sunday, December 21, 2008

Lawyer Ordered to Vacate

The San Antonio lawyer jailed this fall for contempt of court in a bizarre case involving her grandmother's estate and allegations that she had embezzled from it was ordered by a Bexar County probate judge to leave the Monticello Park home she bought with the fortune.

Michelle Valicek has yet to fully account for what's happened to the estate of her 95-year-old grandmother, retired ballet instructor Margaret Lorenz, and the sizable estate Lorenz inherited from a nephew who died in 2005 without a will.

Amid allegations of elder abuse, Valicek was stripped of her responsibilities administering the estate by Probate Judge Tom Rickhoff in the spring. According to court records, Valicek was spending from the combined fortunes $25,000 a month.

Among her purchases were a Lexus, a baby grand piano and a pool table.

Rickhoff had Valicek jailed for one night in October for contempt of court after she apparently failed to cooperate with the new administrator of the estates.

Her lawyer said Valicek was in a nearby parking lot crying and “hysterical,” and it was his recommendation that she be committed to a hospital. He asked Rickhoff to make plain to his client the need for her to vacate the house in the 200 block of Mary Louise, which she had agreed to do by Dec. 13.

That was in an agreement reached last month that saved her from being jailed, an agreement in which she conveyed the deeds to five properties to the administrator.

But she continues to occupy the Mary Louise house.

Full Article and Source:
Lawyer ordered to leave grandma's former home

See also:
Lawyer Accused of Elder Abuse

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is going to be an interesting case to watch.

And why wasn't the court watching all along?

Anonymous said...

Court watching the fox?

Probate is a free for all and the players know this and take risky chances cause one review of the case files will show the fact: probate cases is like staking your claim to a gold mine and highly unlikely that the dirty deeds will be uncovered and exposed.

Michelle Valicek is shameful and a disgrace; she is a prime candidate for a padded cell, throw away the key and let nature take it's course.

Anonymous said...

Greedy guardians are bad enough, but lawyers as guardians is over the top.

And her own grandmother? For shame!

tvfields said...

This is another case, somewhat like my own, of a lawyer defrauding their own family.

Of course, in my case the victim was a cancer patient who was under a Do Not Resuscitate order and on a morphine drip, and the lawyer was known to be extremely disliked and distrusted by the victim ...

Of course, criminal and bar complaints against the lawyer and her accomplices were ignored, civil proceedings were corrupted by a court that ignored the law to prevent parties from participating at trial ...

The evidence in this case, namely the testimony of the lawyer and others, which has never been reported by the courts or the media, has been preserved for anyone who wants to learn from it. It is described and reproduced in full online at http://home.roadrunner.com/~tvfields/dir.htm

Of course, what is most important is stopping such fraud before it happens. For this purpose, several reasonable legal reforms have been proposed to lawmakers. (See http://home.roadrunner.com/~tvfields/Directory.htm) Naturally, the bar association opposes them while sponsoring other legislation (like Ohio Senate Bill #302 in 2008) which encourages more abuse of this kind.

The law is a haven for those who want to abuse it. Salem witch trials were tolerated by the law. Slavery, discrimination, and segregation were all tolerated by the law. Just about every injustice conceivable has been tolerated by the law. Why should we expect any more now?

Americans just voted for change. The question I have is what change ... From the e-mails I've received from the new administration, we should all volunteer to work in soup kitchens and clean up parks rather than collect taxes to give these jobs to people who need and/or want them ... I've yet to hear a peep out of any politician about sponsoring the legal reforms which are needed so as to ensure integrity in our legal system ...

We live in a country of Booker T. Washingtons. We need more like Frederick Douglas and William Du Bois.

Anonymous said...

It's interesting to me that the perps have no conscience nor give their victims a passing thought.

But when they're caught, they cry and become hysterical, etc.

Suddenly they have feeling.

Anonymous said...

Responding to TV Fields, I think change will come slowly. There are so many things broken and so much to do, I think all we can do is continue to shout and keep our issue on the list. And try to push it up as much as we can.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
"It's interesting to me that the perps have no conscience nor give their victims a passing thought."

CONSCIENCE?

Read the profile of: Sociopaths - it is common knowledge that they do not have a conscience.

Have you read the book: "Snakes In Suits" sociopaths and pscyhopaths in the workplace?

Workplace includes: Law firms, guardians for profit and sadly probate courts are part of the recipe for disaster.