Lawyer Fights Subpoena in Thompson Estate Case

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

With the deadline just days away, the original attorney for the estate of the late U.S. Senator Fred Thompson has filed an objection to a subpoena requiring his deposition testimony this week.

In papers filed Tuesday in Davidson Probate Court, Charles A. Trost charged that he had not been given proper notice for the deposition and, in fact, still has not been served.

The objection is but the latest development in a continuing battle over the late senator and presidential candidate's estate.

Thompson's widow Jeri has filed an objection to a $14,000 claim filed by Trost's law firm, Waller Lansden Dortch and Davis, for work performed in an abortive effort to make last minute changes in the television actor's estate.

In the one-page filing Trost's lawyer said the subpoena was not properly served and that the estate's new attorneys had failed to follow proper procedures including providing at least 21 days advance notice.

The dispute over the bill first surfaced last year, but was put on hold about the same time Thompson's two sons by his first marriage charged that changes had been made in the estate plan when the late senator was no longer competent to approve such changes.

That dispute ended abruptly after Jeri Thompson complied with an order to provide the sons with details on any last minute changes in her husband's estate. She said the only change had been in the secondary beneficiary on a life insurance policy, a change that turned out to be irrelevant.

Because of the failed effort to change the estate plan's, the will finally filed for Thompson by Trost was over a decade old and omitted the two children from his marriage to Jeri.

The subpoena calls for Trost to appear for a deposition on Friday.

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Lawyer Fights Subpoena in Thompson Estate Case