WALING ON THE MOON DOES NOT KEEP YOU FROM AGING

Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon, is 88 years old and has met his fourth wife.  The bad news, the kids don’t like her.  

Here’s what we know from media reports; Dr. Aldrin has sued two of his (3) children and his former manager.  Two children, Andy and Jan, had asked a court to name them as guardians citing his loss of cognitive function and dementia. Warrior that he is, Colonel Aldrin (ret) came out fighting!  He sued the kids, claimed they had transferred monies from his foundation for their personal use and used his credit cards without his permission and sabotaged his love life.  He made an appearance on Good Morning America excoriating his children and accused them of exploiting the elderly.  

The  ousted manager, Christina Korp, states that “almost a year ago, some people began to exert undue influence on Buzz.  These individuals began to actively try to drive a wedge between Buzz, his children and me, for what I fear is their own benefit.”  Her  argument is that because he has dementia he is vulnerable to manipulation.

My argument is that the kids and manager he is suing are doing exactly the same thing.  This ‘fight’ is about who gets to manipulate Colonel Aldrin.  His estate is valued at approximately $12 million. The two children are paid by the Aldrin foundation, as was the former manager. 

Lisa LaBonte met Buzz Aldrin because of their shared interest in STEM education (Science, Technology, Electronics, Mathematics).   Apparently, the relationship has blossomed into something more.  One can speculate as to her motive but the same can be said for the kids and former manager.  Further, Ms. LaBonte works for a living and is not paid by the foundation.

All of this will be solved fairly soon as the “mental health’ tests have been administered and the Courts will review the three different opinions.  I’m only sad that a man who gave his life to service for our country (his children did not) has to defend his honor.  The children did nothing for the $12 million but now feel as though its theirs to protect.  I say, Buzz Aldrin’s life speaks for itself.  Good for him making a last stand – no matter what the outcome!

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WALING ON THE MOON DOES NOT KEEP YOU FROM AGING

Chicago Lawyer Blamed for Messy Estate Spat

CHICAGO (CN) - Six siblings led by a priest claim in court that their former attorney complicated their efforts to recover $47 million in assets other siblings looted.

 The Rev. Timothy O'Malley filed the complaint Monday with three brothers and two sisters.

 They say three of their siblings began looted their parents' assets in late 2000, after their father's death, depleting the estate of $47 million by the time their mother died in February 2009.

 Premier among their mother's assets was the Palos Country Club in Orland Park, according to the complaint.

 The plaintiffs say their siblings all but drove this club into the ground while their mother was sick.

 Though they hired an attorney in April 2009 to contest their mother's will, the plaintiffs say Frederick Cappetta and his firm, Cappetta & Associates, "proved to be ineffective counsel," according to the complaint.

 Ultimately with new counsel, the plaintiffs secured a 2012 jury verdict finding that the will they had challenged "was a product of undue influence."

 "Soon after, plaintiffs rightfully regained control of the estate," the complaint states. "Since the will contest, plaintiffs have, at great personal cost, undertaken a tremendous effort to sort out nearly a decade of professional abuse of their mother's legal and financial affairs."

 The plaintiffs blame Cappetta's failings for having been later forced "to undertake legal actions at substantial personal cost to recover property, documents and information which should have been recovered years earlier."

 The Rev. O'Malley says his "self-serving" siblings created a "legal and financial boondoggle."

 "But for Cappetta, and his firms' [sic] negligent acts and/or omissions, plaintiff [sic] would have prosecuted her [sic] underlying claim against" certain attorneys who helped their unscrupulous siblings, according to the complaint.

 Such claims would have netted damages for the O'Malley plaintiffs, they say.

 The five O'Malley siblings say Cappetta supposedly had expertise in estate litigation but "undertook no action against the attorney's [sic] and professionals for their improprieties."

 A six-month statute of limitation bars malpractice and fraud claims in Illinois estate cases, but "Cappetta was unaware of and failed to inform plaintiffs" of that hurdle, the complaint states.

 The plaintiffs seek at least $3 million in damages for Cappetta's alleged breach. They are represented by Michael O'Malley of Evanstown. O'Malley declined to give an interview for this article.

 It is unclear from the complaint if he is a relative of the plaintiff O'Malleys.

 Cappetta has not returned a phone call seeking comment.

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Chicago Lawyer Blamed for Messy Estate Spat

"Miss Piggy" to inherit Astor family millions

Charlene Marshall & the late Brooke Astor

Rescuing his grandmother Brooke Astor cost him a cool, $9 million inheritance — but he’d do it all again in a heartbeat.

Philip Marshall says he still has no regrets, nine years after blowing the whistle on his father Tony for swindling the beloved Manhattan philanthropist and secluding her in squalor on Park Avenue — even though the move left him high and dry in the dad’s vengeful will.

“Basically, we saved my grandmother and that was my goal,” Philip told The Post.

“And if it was at the cost of anything I was ever to inherit, I just don’t care. I would do it all again,” said Philip, who advocates nationally for fighting elder abuse.

Tony took his revenge in his will.

As first reported in The Post Wednesday, Tony cut his only two children, Philip and Alexander, and their children — his own grandkids — out of his will.

Anthony Marshall

Instead, he bequeathed the entirety of the estimated $14.5 million fortune he’d inherited from Astor to his widow, Charlene and her children.

Gallingly, Astor’s last millions will be enjoyed by a woman hated by Astor.

Charlene was described during Marshall’s 2009 criminal trial as her husband’s greedy muse — one of Astor’s nurses dubbed her “Miss Piggy” and Astor herself called her,“That bitch” and snarked, “She has no class and no neck,” testimony revealed.

Philip, a Massachusetts professor, and his brother, Alex, a Vermont photographer, had been set to inherit $10 million each under Astor’s will. But that will was voided due to improprieties exposed in large part by the brothers.

Phillip Marshall & Alexander Marshall

Instead, each got a $1 million inheritance directly from Astor.

“I think it’s incredibly honorable of Philip and Alex,” said Meryl Gordon, author of Mrs. Astor Regrets.

“They didn’t want to benefit from their father’s death. And the case was never about money,” said Gordon, whose latest book, The Phantom of Fifth Avenue, details still more alleged elder abuse.

She added, “Philip’s life has really changed from this — he still sometimes cries when he talks about his grandmother and what happened to her and how helpless he felt for such a long time.”

The sordid tale of squalor amidst riches began back in 2006, Philip had been dismayed for years as he watched his beloved grandmother remain shut up in her drab and drafty Park Avenue apartment, sleeping in torn nightgowns and eating pureed peas and carrots on a urine-stained couch.

Tony had fired her French chef, cut back on her meds, nursing staff and doctors visits, and had shuttered her beloved Westchester estate, where she’d always said she wanted to die.

It was Philip who mustered Astor’s A-list of powerful pals: David Rockefeller, Henry Kissenger and Annette de la Renta, and sued for guardianship.

The resulting criminal investigation disclosed that — with Charlene’s encouragement — Tony had tried to loot his mother’s estate out of $60 million.

Through “BeyondBrooke.org,” Philip has testified on elder abuse before the Senate Special Committee on Aging, and has lectured on the topic across the country for law enforcement, legal and civic organizations.

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"Miss Piggy" to inherit Astor family millions

Senator wrestles heirs over nine-figure Texas fortune

LAREDO, Texas — Out behind the nursing home where Josefina Alexander Gonzalez turned 99 Saturday, there’s a dilapidated green ranch house, its porch cover still held up by rough-hewn tree trunks.

To the southeast, you see a lot of tall brush and honey mesquite, a view that hasn’t changed much since the 1940s, when her parents bought a 1,000-acre ranch outside this isolated border town.
Look in any other direction, and you’ll see new construction on her property, as developers cash in on the last large tract of open space inside of Loop 20 in north Laredo, now worth as much as $150 million.

But if you wanted to ask her what she thought of all the changes, you’d have to get past the guard in her room at Laredo Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, where she has been stashed by Carlos Zaffirini and his wife, state Sen. Judith Zaffirini.

The Zaffirinis are battling Gonzalez’s daughter and grandchildren for control of that fortune. They filed papers last month arguing that Rocio Gonzalez Guerra should forfeit her inheritance.

Rocio Gonzalez Guerra and her two teenage children stand to inherit an intricate cluster of interlocking partnerships, estates and trusts established by Gonzalez and her late and childless sister, Delfina Alexander.

For all those complications, the outlines of the case are plain: Guerra and her children may be the heirs, but the businesses and their funds are controlled by the Zaffirinis and their associates.

POWER PLAY: State Sen. Judith Zaffirini

 has filed papers arguing that the

 heir whose money she controls should

 forfeit an inheritance.

That’s why the guard is outside Josefina Gonzalez’s room — so she can’t be served papers in a lawsuit to appoint a guardian for her, a guardian who would wreck the Zaffirinis’ plans.

The Zaffirinis already have control over Delfina Alexander’s estate and a trust she set up in her will, and they claim to have power of attorney over Josefina Gonzalez, although Gonzalez’s bank won’t let them touch her accounts, according to court records, as the papers were signed shortly before she was declared mentally incompetent.

In two days of hearings last week, a Webb County District Court judge heard the first of dozens of motions that have piled up in three related lawsuits. This account is drawn from the records of those lawsuits.

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Senator wrestles heirs over nine-figure Texas fortune