Portsmouth officer to be deposed about $2.7M inheritance

PORTSMOUTH — A police officer accused of exploiting an elderly woman with dementia to inherit her $2.7 million estate is scheduled to be deposed Oct. 27 by multiple lawyers on both sides of the debate.

The officer, Sgt. Aaron Goodwin, is accused in the Rockingham County probate court of exerting undue influence over the late Geraldine Webber, who died at age 94 on Dec. 11, 2012. Seven months before her death, Webber endorsed a new will and trust, naming Goodwin as the primary beneficiary of her waterfront home, stocks, bonds and a Cadillac.

Photo by Deb Cram

Goodwin, who is being represented by attorney Chuck Doleac, has consistently denied the allegations. Webber’s neighbor, retired officer John Connors, previously told the Herald that he saw Goodwin visit Webber’s home, in a police cruiser, more than 100 times.

According to court records, several lawyers declined to rewrite Webber’s 2009 will, while citing concerns about her mental capacity, before Hampton attorney Ralph Holmes agreed to do so. Parties involved in the estate dispute were notified this week that Holmes is also scheduled to be deposed in October.

The depositions were scheduled by Manchester attorney David Eby, who is representing the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Society and The Shriners Hospital for Children. Eby’s clients were each $500,000 beneficiaries under a 2009 will Webber had written by Portsmouth attorney Jim Ritzo, then were named as $80,000 beneficiaries under the 2012 estate plans drafted by Holmes.

Eby alleges Goodwin befriended Webber, who was diagnosed with dementia in 2010, before helping her visit "more than one attorney for the purpose of changing her estate plan."

During a Sept. 4 deposition, Webber’s physician, Dr. Ira Schwartz, testified that Holmes met with him in January 2012 to ask about Webber’s mental competency and that he told Holmes, “not only do I consider her unable to make an informed decision, but I believe she was judged to be that way by psychiatrists during a prior admission (at Portsmouth Regional Hospital).

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Portsmouth officer to be deposed about $2.7M inheritance