Family of Man Whose $2 Million Estate Went Mostly to His Lawyer Rejects His Settlement Offer

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.

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Family of Man Whose $2 Million Estate Went Mostly to His Lawyer Rejects His Settlement Offer