The "Vision" of the Law Firm of Eden Rose Brown

This is how Eden Rose Brown describes the "vision" of the law firm she founded:

OUR VISION Our clients involve us when planning for the two most important things in their lives: everything they own and everyone they love. Our clients share their hopes, dreams, values and goals; we listen and help them understand their options. We work with our clients to design personalized plans that reflect their own unique situation, while putting our knowledge and experience to work for their benefit. The result of such thoughtful planning is an estate plan that works. Our plans promote harmony within the family and provide a lasting legacy that will continue to reflect our clients' values and ideals for generations to come.

In reality, this is how Eden Rose Brown and P. Freeman Green have colluded with Kerry P. Burtis, the Trustee, to mismanage and deplete the estate and trust of Elizabeth A. McGuiness:

1. They coerced an elderly woman in failing health with Alzheimer's disease into rewriting an existing "Revocable Trust Agreement" while under the influence of her nephew, Kerry P. Burtis, who then conveniently received the majority of her assets and estate distributions.

2. Eden Rose Brown determined Elizabeth McGuinness to be competent and of sane mind and body in spite of the fact that she had been under the care of a physician for several years who was treating her with prescription medications for advanced Alzheimer's disease.

3. They wrote a provision into the new "Revocable Trust Agreement" which protected themselves and the trustee from ever having to reveal any information regarding the way in which her assets, properties, and estate were managed, allocated or disbursed. They colluded secretly with the trustee to misplace at least half a million dollars with no accountability to anyone.

4. They aided and abetted the Trustee of the estate, Kerry P. Burtis, in the apparent theft of more than half a million dollars from the estate and quite possibly a great deal more. Reviewing the five full pages in the trust devoted to the Section 7.10 "Distribution of Share for Kerry P. Burtis" and Liz McGuinness' stated desire that Kerry receive throughout his lifetime:

   

   • "Funds for the purchase price of a residence that is in keeping with Kerry's standard of living"
   • "Adoption or fertility expenses for Kerry and his spouse"
   • "Seed money to start a business or professional practice"
   • "Travel to countries where Kerry can experience different cultures, languages and customs"
   • "Expenses for things that encourage a love of nature and exercise."
   • "...expenses for college preparatory courses"
   • "Payment of insurance premiums to maintain full medical, dental, and disability coverage"
   • "...reasonable expenses of an annual vacation for Kerry"

   It is hard to imagine that Eden Rose Brown and P. Freeman Green would deem it necessary to write a one hundred page will billed at $350.00 per hour with five complete pages of gifts to Kerry P. Burtis if there were only a couple of hundred thousand dollars in the trust when it was signed on July 23, 2008. And this is just a small sampling of the many gifts Elizabeth McGuinness chose to bestow upon her favorite nephew. And yet, less than two years later there is nothing left in her estate but around $120,000 in assets and property for distribution to Elizabeth McGuinness' son and all other ten beneficiaries.

   Even the examples written into the trust by Eden Rose Brown use an example of a $660,000 estate value. With an estimated July 2010 value of the estate at around $120,000, there remains A MINIMUM OF $540,000 unaccounted for during a time period of less than two years.

   With both Kerry and the Eden Rose Brown law firm unwilling to account for the missing funds, it is logical to conclude that more than half a million dollars have been diverted, disbursed and/or stolen from the estate.

5. Eden Rose Brown couldn't even get the numbers to add up in "Article Seven Distribution to Beneficiaries". In Section 7.01 Promissory Note she discusses "Kerry's 40% share" and in Section 7.02 Division of Remaining Trust Property Kerry P. Burtis is listed as receiving a 39% share. Legal documents - especially a trust agreement one hundred pages long - are generally expected to be accurate and numbers and distribution shares should add up precisely. But Eden Rose Brown could not be bothered to get the numbers right, even while billing the estate $350.00 per hour.

6. They have refused to answer questions, inquiries or requests from beneficiaries and continue to bill the estate for the time it takes to simply read and "file" such inquiries, billing the remaining beneficiaries for $6,827.50 in March of 2010 alone.

7. After completing the revised "Revocable Trust Agreement" on July 23, 2008, when Liz McGuinness passed away just 15 months later on November 19, 2009, it took these attorneys two months to distribute copies of the trust agreement, and when they finally mailed it out, they sent the wrong document and left out three of the intended beneficiaries!

8. After setting herself up as the "Trustee Protector" in the new "Revocable Trust Agreement", two years later Eden Rose Brown notified all beneficiaries that she had never accepted that role or responsibility. It took Eden Rose Brown two years to announce retroactively that she had never assumed the position she had assigned to herself when the trust was signed on July 23, 2008, claiming now that there has never been a "Trust Protector" and one was never nominated or selected to accept that role in her absence - as required by the trust document itself which Eden Rose Brown authored. Eden Rose Brown made this announcement on advice from an attorney at the Oregon State Bar Association who suggested that authoring the revised trust agreement and assigning herself as the "Trust Protector" for the estate might be a conflict of interest.

9. These attorneys and this law firm have been unresponsive, patronizing, dismissive, sloppy, unprofessional, incompetent, disingenuous, dishonest, and deceptive. They have bled the estate by way of excessive billable hours at confiscatory rates of $350.00 per hour, while neglecting the interests and requests of Elizabeth McGuinness' designated beneficiaries.

10. They have neglected and rejected all offers to communicate, compromise, discuss, negotiate or clarify any and all issues pertaining to the trust and the management of this estate, instructing all beneficiaries other than Trustee to seek their own independent legal counsel at their own expense. They have also acted to generate distrust and disharmony amongst all beneficiaries. They have pitted brothers against sisters and relatives against friends, even as Kerry P. Burtis has made an aggressive and concerted effort to disparage and discredit Elizabeth McGuinness' son Charles and his family over the last couple of years.

11. We will gladly update, edit, or change any of the above information, assumptions or claims if and when we are presented with any documented evidence to the contrary. All requests for information, evidence, or documentation from these attorneys and the Trustee have been disregarded or ignored. Information pertaining to our determination that the Elizabeth McGuinness estate may have had close to one million dollars in assets, property, and IRA and retirement funds may be found here.