By Dan Trevas
The Supreme Court of Ohio today suspended a Worthington attorney for two years, with 18 months stayed, for transferring money from guardianship accounts without probate court permission, then lying to the court about the amount of money moves he made.
The Supreme Court found Michael Juhola violated several ethics rules when he transferred money from client accounts and then reimbursed the client whose money he used as a “bridge” to benefit his other clients.
In a per curiam opinion, the Court noted that Juhola must recognize that his duties as a court-appointed guardian hold him to a high standard and that client needs and wants must be balanced against hard economic realities and limited resources.
“He cannot allow his empathy for one ward to take precedence over his duty to another,” the Court stated.
In addition to the suspension, the Court ordered Juhola to work with a monitoring attorney for one year following his reinstatement, with the monitor focusing on Juhola’s proper use and distribution of guardianship funds.
Chief Justice Sharon L. Kennedy and Justices Patrick F. Fischer, Daniel R. Hawkins, and Megan E. Shanahan joined the opinion.
Justices R. Patrick DeWine and Joseph T. Deters stated they would impose the sanction recommended by the Board of Professional Conduct, which suggested Juhola be suspended for six months and monitored for one year upon his reinstatement. Justice Jennifer Brunner did not participate in the case.
Juhola operates a solo practice focusing on guardianship, estates, and land-sale auctions. He was serving as the guardian of the estates of Bradford Woelfel and Todd McDaniel in 2023 when he started transferring money between the two accounts.
Juhola was seeking funds to pay McDaniel’s assisted living expenses. At the time McDaniel’s estate was experiencing cash flow problems due to a delay in selling stock McDaniel owned.
In January 2023, Juhola transferred $20,000 from one of Woelfel’s accounts to McDaniel’s account at the same bank. In February 2023, he moved another $5,000 from Woelfel’s account to McDaniel’s. He did not ask the Franklin County Probate Court for permission to do so. Juhola later admitted he did not request permission because he was afraid it would be denied.
“My thought was no harm, no foul; ask for forgiveness instead of permission,” he stated.
Juhola used the $25,000 withdrawn from Woelfel’s account to pay for McDaniel’s assisted living and did not tell McDaniel that he used another client’s money. Weeks later, Juhola completed the stock sale and used the proceeds to reimburse Woelfel’s account. None of the transfers were disclosed in the Woelfel estate accounting reports that Juhola was required to file with the probate court.
Later in 2023, Juhola used money from the Woelfel account again. Juhola served as conservator for Cyle Jarvis for 12 years, but in 2023, the conservatorship was terminated and Juhola became Jarvis’s financial power of attorney. Jarvis had agreed to move from his house to a condominium in an effort to increase his independence and conserve his assets.
Jarvis’s account was short on cash when Juhola and Jarvis found a condominium that suited Jarvis’s needs. Fearing he would not be able to sell Jarvis’ existing home or stocks quickly enough to make a cash offer on the new home and seeking to avoid capital-gains taxes on the sale of stocks, Juhola decided instead to use another client’s money to aid in the purchase.
Juhola transferred $70,000 from the Woelfel estate to Jarvis’s checking account in October 2023, again without seeking probate court approval. He did not tell Woelfel or Jarvis about the transfer. The bank reported the transfer to a supervisor at Franklin County Adult Protective Services. The probate court ordered Juhola to provide bank statements regarding the unauthorized transfer of funds.
Within two weeks, Juhola sold Jarvis’ stock and deposited $70,000, along with $479 in interest, into Woelfel’s account. The probate court later ordered Juhola to reimburse Jarvis for the $479 interest payment and he complied with the court’s order.
Probate Court Questioned Lawyer About Transfers
The probate court conducted a hearing
to consider removing Juhola as Woelfel’s guardian. Woelfel’s wife
spoke in support of retaining Juhola. The magistrate asked Juhola
whether he had ever transferred money from one client’s account to
another. Woelfel did not disclose the transfers he made between
Woelfel’s and McDaniel’s accounts earlier in 2023.
McDaniel died in January 2024. After reviewing McDaniel’s account, Juhola disclosed to the probate court that he was mistaken when he stated that the transfer between the Woelfel and Jarvis accounts was the only instance. The court ordered Juhola to provide an accounting for 14 other matters. After a four-day hearing on those accounts, the court found no evidence of any additional wrongdoing.
Based on the transfers, the Office of Disciplinary Counsel filed a complaint with the board in November 2024. After conducting a hearing, a three-member board panel found Juhola violated several ethics rules, including rules that prohibit attorneys from knowingly making a false statement to a court and engaging in conduct that adversely reflects on their fitness to practice law.
The board adopted the panel’s findings and noted that lawyers in positions of public trust, including those appointed as guardians, have a heightened responsibility to abide by the professional conduct rules.
Supreme Court Considered Sanction
The opinion stated that Juhola’s actions
constitute the misappropriation of client funds and the presumed
sanction for that misconduct is disbarment. However, the sanction “may
be tempered with sufficient evidence of mitigating or extenuating circumstances,” the Court noted.
The Court examined sanctions imposed on five other attorneys who either transferred or stole money from client accounts. The opinion noted the sanctions ranged from disbarment to fully stayed suspensions.
Of note in Juhola’s case is that he did not use Woelfel’s money “to pay his own expenses or line his own pocket,” the Court stated. Rather, he used the money as a bridge to secure the purchase of a home Jarvis desired and to pay for McDaniel’s housing costs until he could sell assets from their accounts to pay Woelfel back.
Despite his good intentions, his actions violated his primary duty to manage Woelfel’s estate in his best interests, the Court ruled.
In a required accounting Juhola provided to the probate court, he omitted the two transfers he made from Woelfel’s account to McDaniel’s account. The Court noted the omission is a violation of R.C. 2109.302(A) which required him to provide an itemized statement of all receipts and disbursements for the account. Less than two weeks after making the improper filing, Juhola transferred $70,000 out of Woelfel’s account to help Jarvis.
The Court noted Juhola was fortunate that Woelfel did not financially suffer from his moves. While the board found a six-month suspension was sufficient, the Court determined that a longer suspension with a partial stay “is necessary to impart the seriousness of Juhola’s misconduct and to further discourage him and others from using the assets of one client or ward to make unauthorized loans for the benefit of another.”
In addition to the suspension, Juhola was ordered to pay the costs of the disciplinary proceedings.
2025-0789. Disciplinary Counsel v. Juhola, Slip Opinion No. 2025-Ohio-5663.
Please note: Opinion summaries are prepared by the Office of Public Information for the general public and news media. Opinion summaries are not prepared for every opinion, but only for noteworthy cases. Opinion summaries are not to be considered as official headnotes or syllabi of court opinions. The full text of this and other court opinions are available online.
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Attorney Suspended for Juggling Funds in Guardianship Accounts
