Illinois Law Firm Probed Over Estate Dealings

The law firm of Przybylo and Kubiatowski faces two additional cases where the Cook County public guardian alleged that the firm drew up legal documents putting the assets of disabled elderly women in the hands of caretakers who may have exploited them financially. The firm vigorously defends its professional conduct.

Case 1: Anna Polachanin
A wheelchair-bound 94-year-old widow with no children or living relatives, former railroad company clerk Anna Polachanin in 2008 hired an in-house caretaker: Iryna "Irene" Bochko, a Ukrainian-born 25-year-old who had worked as a dental assistant and bartender.

Bochko took Polachanin to firm partner Stephen Kubiatowski, who prepared legal documents giving Bochko power of attorney for Polachanin, according to the public guardian. Bochko and a second Ukrainian woman then drained Polachanin's bank accounts of at least $300,000, according to court records. The women transferred an estimated $265,000 to unknown sources in Ukraine, court records show.

Convicted of financial exploitation of the elderly, Bochko is serving a four-year prison sentence.

On Polachanin's behalf, Cook County Public Guardian Robert Harris filed a claim against Kubiatowski and recovered a confidential settlement, interviews show.

Case 2: Sylvia Maciejewski
Once a Marshall Field's draperies department supervisor, Sylvia Maciejewski turned to the law firm to help her prepare estate documents.

In 2007, the law firm helped Maciejewski make changes to her estate, giving broad powers to manage her finances to two neighbors who are St. Constance Church lay ministers.

By then, Maciejewski was 91 years old and beginning to suffer from dementia, court records and interviews show. According to the public guardian, the neighbors opened at least six separate accounts at three banks starting in 2007 and transferred about $196,000 of Maciejewski's funds through those accounts. By June 2010, Maciejewski's cash assets had dropped to $20,000, the public guardian wrote in court papers.

The neighbors have not been charged with any crime, although the matter is being examined by county prosecutors, according to government officials.

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Law Firm Probed Over Estate Dealings