- Report: #218203
Complaint Review: Jessica Kirk - Birmingham Alabama
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Jessica Kirk
2101 6th Ave. North Ste 1125 Birmingham, 35203 Alabama, U.S.A.
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205-328-0660
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Jessica Kirk, Attorney Jessica Kirk, dishonest, unethical attorney, had conflict of interest, did not assist me in honoring father's will, did not know estate law, did not present evidence to protect children Birmingham Alabama
CONSUMERS BEWARE OF ATTORNEYS AND PROBATE COURT IN BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA. YOUR P0WER OF ATTORNEY, WILL, AND OTHER LEGAL DOCUMENTS ARE USELESS!!!!!
My father was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2000. He appointed me as durable power of attorney with total authority over his assets and health care. I was not able, however, to carry out any of his wishes in his power of attorney or Advance Directive concerning his health care with his hospice or doctor due to false allegations made by my extended family members. My father suffered unnecessarily as a result of this and none of his wishes were honored.
After my father's death, I was not "allowed" to carry out any of the wishes in his will by all the attorneys involved or by probate court.
His will states that I "shall not be required to furnish any bond, nor file any inventory of property, or make any report or final settlement to any court of any proceedings hereunder.
His will also states that I "have full power and authority to sell, transfer and convey any property, real or personal, which I may own or have control over at my death, without first obtaining permission from any court, at such time and price and upon such terms and conditions, including credit as I may determine and to do every other act and thing necessary or appropriate for the complete administration of my Estate."
I was "NOT ALLOWED" to carry out ANY of these duties by the attorneys involved and was not allowed to be on the appraisals on the property, determine the price, or sell the property so that I could settle the estate. I had to file an inventory, reports, a final settlement, and many other documents my father's will said I did not have to.
My father's estate was then turned over to a "master" by the judge (Mark Gaines at Jefferson County courthouse)against my father's will and state law. My brother and I, who were the only heirs, were NOT alllowed in the courtroom at this time.
None of the attorneys involved would honor my father's will nor assist me in carrying out his wishes. Several attorneys did not file documents as ordered by the judge but told me that they had.
I was not informed of court dates concerning my father's estate by my attorneys nor was I served any documents so that I could attend court and inform the judge what was going on.
I have not been able to obtain some documents filed on my father's estate from probate court.
There was also illegal distributions concering property belonging to my father's estate by one of the attorneys(Robert Townes of Gardendale, AL.
I have contacted NUMEROUS attorneys, the STATE BAR, the Attorney General, comsumer protection agencies, etc., about these unethical and illegal actions of all these attorneys and probate court but cannot find anyone to assist me in exposing this corruption and recover the money these attorneys stoled from my father's estate against his will and state law.
I am in hopes there is someone out there that has enough honesty and integrity to help me and warn others so that what happened to my father, my brother, and I will not happen to someone else.
I have NUMEROUS documents and recordings to support my case and feel extremely confident I can prove all of the above statements and many more unethical, if not illegal, actions by these attorneys and probate court.
SOMEONE PLEASE HELP!!!! IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOUR FAMILY!!!
Laney
Gardendale, Alabama
U.S.A.
Laney,
Unfortunatley, the courts appear to be like the Birmingham Water Works.... they answer to no one but the media. Contact 33/40's Fighting for you, www.abc3340.com or Fox's 6 On Your Side www.myfoxal.com and let them know your story. Hopefully they can help if enough media attention is given to your story.
David - BIRMINGHAM, Alabama
U.S.A.
I think I have a pretty good idea as to what the other side of this story is, but maybe you could answer a couple of questions for me before I jump to any conclusions.
First, what was the nature of the challenge raised by your "extended family members" regarding the validity of the will?
Second, what reason did the numerous lawyers that you spoke to give you for not wanting to take on your case?
Tim - Valparaiso, Indiana
U.S.A.
In answer to Indiana......I am not aware of ANY challenge to the validity of the will. The will was drawn by a personal attorney friend of my father's whom I did not know nor had never met until my father called me to meet him at his friend's office to redo his will. It was also signed by several witnesses. My father's previous will was drawn up by my father's previous attorney in 1995 who also represented the other heir. (There were only two heirs.) I was executrix and had power of attorney on the will my father drew up with this previous attorney also.
In answer to your second question......I was told by the other numerous attorneys that they would not handle legal malpractice cases against another attorney and did not know of anyone that would.
I am curious how anyone could "jump to any conclusions" about the other side of the story unless they were involved in this case.
Deborah - Gardendale, Alabama
U.S.A
Deborah,
I may have came off as dismissive of your claims in my first rebuttal. That was not intentional.
From the information you've given, it sounds like there has been some kind of challenge to your capacity to administer the estate, either mentally or ethically. But that's just the conclusion I draw from the information you've given. Without seeing the court file, I really have no idea what happened in your case.
As for a legal malpractice case, you will likely have a problem with standing. You can't sue a lawyer for malpractice if he wasn't YOUR lawyer. The attorney who drafted the will was your father's lawyer, not yours, at least as regards the estate. As the executrix of the estate you would be able to prosecute claims on behalf of your father. But there seems to be a problem with your status as executrix, so you will likely have a hard time.
It can also be difficult to find an attorney in one locale who will take a case against another attorney in the area. Lawyers depend on the relationships they have with one another and, in most cases, this benefits clients. But when you're pressing a malpractice claim, it can be a big stumbling block. I would advise you to seek counsel outside of your local area, but not so far away that it's impractical.
Best of luck!
Tim - Valparaiso, Indiana
U.S.A.
Update Submitted by the original author
Submitted: 10/13/2006 10:59:15 AM Modified: 10/13/2006 10:59:15 AM
answer to Indiana
You are correct. There was a challenge to my capacity, however, all the claims by my "family" were proven to be totally false. It was proven that there were no unethical or illegal actions performs by me as executrix but were performed by most attorneys involved. I was not removed as executrix as the "familys" claims and slander had no validity and therefore could not be proven. I have no problem with the attorney who drafted my father's will.
It is all the attorneys I had and the other heir's attorney who performed all the illegal and unethical actions and DID NOT honor my father's will or the laws. This allowed them to take a large portion of my father's estate from both myself and the other heir. And you are right, they all protect each other and there is nothing anyone can do to protect themselves from the attorneys. My father's will and power of attorney meant NOTHING!
Never underestimate what "family" members will do to dishonor your will and power of attorney for MONEY. Even though these "family" members were not heirs in the will! If you want your assets to go to your children, or whoever, give it to them BEFORE you die or all the greedy members of your family will give it to the attorneys and the court, even if they were not mentioned in the will!
NEVER underestimate what family members will do for MONEY! Wanted everyone to know so this will hopefully not happen to anyone else.
Deborah
Birmingham, Alabama
U.S.A.
My father was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2000. He appointed me as durable power of attorney with total authority over his assets and health care. I was not able, however, to carry out any of his wishes in his power of attorney or Advance Directive concerning his health care with his hospice or doctor due to false allegations made by my extended family members. My father suffered unnecessarily as a result of this and none of his wishes were honored.
After my father's death, I was not "allowed" to carry out any of the wishes in his will by all the attorneys involved or by probate court.
His will states that I "shall not be required to furnish any bond, nor file any inventory of property, or make any report or final settlement to any court of any proceedings hereunder.
His will also states that I "have full power and authority to sell, transfer and convey any property, real or personal, which I may own or have control over at my death, without first obtaining permission from any court, at such time and price and upon such terms and conditions, including credit as I may determine and to do every other act and thing necessary or appropriate for the complete administration of my Estate."
I was "NOT ALLOWED" to carry out ANY of these duties by the attorneys involved and was not allowed to be on the appraisals on the property, determine the price, or sell the property so that I could settle the estate. I had to file an inventory, reports, a final settlement, and many other documents my father's will said I did not have to.
My father's estate was then turned over to a "master" by the judge (Mark Gaines at Jefferson County courthouse)against my father's will and state law. My brother and I, who were the only heirs, were NOT alllowed in the courtroom at this time.
None of the attorneys involved would honor my father's will nor assist me in carrying out his wishes. Several attorneys did not file documents as ordered by the judge but told me that they had.
I was not informed of court dates concerning my father's estate by my attorneys nor was I served any documents so that I could attend court and inform the judge what was going on.
I have not been able to obtain some documents filed on my father's estate from probate court.
There was also illegal distributions concering property belonging to my father's estate by one of the attorneys(Robert Townes of Gardendale, AL.
I have contacted NUMEROUS attorneys, the STATE BAR, the Attorney General, comsumer protection agencies, etc., about these unethical and illegal actions of all these attorneys and probate court but cannot find anyone to assist me in exposing this corruption and recover the money these attorneys stoled from my father's estate against his will and state law.
I am in hopes there is someone out there that has enough honesty and integrity to help me and warn others so that what happened to my father, my brother, and I will not happen to someone else.
I have NUMEROUS documents and recordings to support my case and feel extremely confident I can prove all of the above statements and many more unethical, if not illegal, actions by these attorneys and probate court.
SOMEONE PLEASE HELP!!!! IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOUR FAMILY!!!
Laney
Gardendale, Alabama
U.S.A.
Laney,
Unfortunatley, the courts appear to be like the Birmingham Water Works.... they answer to no one but the media. Contact 33/40's Fighting for you, www.abc3340.com or Fox's 6 On Your Side www.myfoxal.com and let them know your story. Hopefully they can help if enough media attention is given to your story.
David - BIRMINGHAM, Alabama
U.S.A.
I think I have a pretty good idea as to what the other side of this story is, but maybe you could answer a couple of questions for me before I jump to any conclusions.
First, what was the nature of the challenge raised by your "extended family members" regarding the validity of the will?
Second, what reason did the numerous lawyers that you spoke to give you for not wanting to take on your case?
Tim - Valparaiso, Indiana
U.S.A.
In answer to Indiana......I am not aware of ANY challenge to the validity of the will. The will was drawn by a personal attorney friend of my father's whom I did not know nor had never met until my father called me to meet him at his friend's office to redo his will. It was also signed by several witnesses. My father's previous will was drawn up by my father's previous attorney in 1995 who also represented the other heir. (There were only two heirs.) I was executrix and had power of attorney on the will my father drew up with this previous attorney also.
In answer to your second question......I was told by the other numerous attorneys that they would not handle legal malpractice cases against another attorney and did not know of anyone that would.
I am curious how anyone could "jump to any conclusions" about the other side of the story unless they were involved in this case.
Deborah - Gardendale, Alabama
U.S.A
Deborah,
I may have came off as dismissive of your claims in my first rebuttal. That was not intentional.
From the information you've given, it sounds like there has been some kind of challenge to your capacity to administer the estate, either mentally or ethically. But that's just the conclusion I draw from the information you've given. Without seeing the court file, I really have no idea what happened in your case.
As for a legal malpractice case, you will likely have a problem with standing. You can't sue a lawyer for malpractice if he wasn't YOUR lawyer. The attorney who drafted the will was your father's lawyer, not yours, at least as regards the estate. As the executrix of the estate you would be able to prosecute claims on behalf of your father. But there seems to be a problem with your status as executrix, so you will likely have a hard time.
It can also be difficult to find an attorney in one locale who will take a case against another attorney in the area. Lawyers depend on the relationships they have with one another and, in most cases, this benefits clients. But when you're pressing a malpractice claim, it can be a big stumbling block. I would advise you to seek counsel outside of your local area, but not so far away that it's impractical.
Best of luck!
Tim - Valparaiso, Indiana
U.S.A.
Update Submitted by the original author
Submitted: 10/13/2006 10:59:15 AM Modified: 10/13/2006 10:59:15 AM
answer to Indiana
You are correct. There was a challenge to my capacity, however, all the claims by my "family" were proven to be totally false. It was proven that there were no unethical or illegal actions performs by me as executrix but were performed by most attorneys involved. I was not removed as executrix as the "familys" claims and slander had no validity and therefore could not be proven. I have no problem with the attorney who drafted my father's will.
It is all the attorneys I had and the other heir's attorney who performed all the illegal and unethical actions and DID NOT honor my father's will or the laws. This allowed them to take a large portion of my father's estate from both myself and the other heir. And you are right, they all protect each other and there is nothing anyone can do to protect themselves from the attorneys. My father's will and power of attorney meant NOTHING!
Never underestimate what "family" members will do to dishonor your will and power of attorney for MONEY. Even though these "family" members were not heirs in the will! If you want your assets to go to your children, or whoever, give it to them BEFORE you die or all the greedy members of your family will give it to the attorneys and the court, even if they were not mentioned in the will!
NEVER underestimate what family members will do for MONEY! Wanted everyone to know so this will hopefully not happen to anyone else.
Deborah
Birmingham, Alabama
U.S.A.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Deborah
Gardendale,Alabama,
U.S.A.
JESSICA KIRK UPDATE
#2Author of original report
Thu, December 04, 2008
In May of 2008, I received a call from Jessica Kirk who was my third attorney in my attempts to honor my father's Will as the executrix of his estate. Jessica asked me at this time to remove my claims on this website, claims it is affecting her business, and claims that she told me that she was filing a claim against my father's estate while she was "representing" me. This is totally NOT true. She also told me that, after I released her, that she contacted my new attorney and told him to take good care of me. This is not what my new attorney told me at the time. I have no idea what the real truth is concerning the conversations between my previous and "new" attorney but do know that both of them were dishonest with me and others involved and neither represented me, my father's estate, nor helped me protect my children in the visitation/custody case my ex-husband filed. Therefore, I am not willing to retract my statements and am confident that I can prove the truth of my claims IF I could find an honest attorney or anyone else to help me seek justice. The truth is........I hired Jessica in 2003 to represent me in my capacity as executrix of my father's estate and also a child custody/visitation case my ex-husband had recently filed against me. Jessica told me at this time that she was a divorce attorney but could handle the estate also as a partner for the firm in the Montgomery office was an estate attorney and she would confer with him in reference to the estate and estate laws. I also told Jessica that I was having multiple problems trying to settle my father's estate mainly because of my brother's and cousin's attorney (who was also my and my father's previous attorney) trying to force me to sell property that belonged to my father's estate. This property had originally belonged to one of my father's brothers who passed away in the 70's and left this property to his three remaining brothers. At my father's death, my father was the executor of this estate and the property it contained as all of the other brothers had passed away. I was told that this estate had been closed out by my father and later, by my attorney at the time but knew that my father still had a checking account with funds from the estate to pay for flowers for my uncle's and grandparent's graves. This account was listed in my father's name as executor of my uncle's estate at my father's death. I also received bank statements from the bank for months after my father's death as my father's executrix. I also received a tax statement from this bank after my father's death and used this statement in filing my father's taxes after my father's death. I related all of this to Jessica Kirk and provided the documents proving this estate and property belonged to my father's estate. I had studied estate law, knew this estate belonged to my father's estate by law, knew the estate had been closed out years ago, knew my father had been hassled to sell this property by some of my family members for years, knew my father told me he was NOT going to sell it, and knew my father told me he wanted me to handle the division of the property belonging to this estate later as his executrix as he trusted me to be fair with the other heirs of this property. My father and I also knew that the property of this estate was rapidly increasing in value and thought that it would be beneficial to ALL the heirs to hang on to it at this time. I told Jessica all the above and I gave Jessica a copy of the bank statements I had received AFTER my father's death showing this estate was in my father's name as executor of this estate. I also told her that my father had been paying taxes on this property for years and that the property was also included in his previous tax returns. Jessica still kept telling me that this property was not involved in my father's estate, told me I had to sign the sales agreement to sell the property that my cousin petitioned to be made executrix of BEFORE my father's death! However, Jessica listed this property as an asset of my father's estate on the inventory I was forced to file (against my father's will) by Robert Townes who was my cousin's and brother's attorney, as he was my father's and my previous attorney. This inventory also proved the fact that my brother(who was the only other heir in my father's estate, was not due any more funds from the estate and in fact owed me/the estate a large amount of money. This was also shown on the settlement agreement between Jessica and my brother's/cousin's attorney which we all agreed on. However, after my cousin illegally acquired and sold the property belonging to my father's estate, my brother's attorney reneged on the settlement we had all agreed on and did not give me the funds for the sale of the property I was forced to sell. Since I had told Jessica when I hired her that I needed the funds for the sell of this property, if I was forced to sell it, given to me for my father's estate in order to pay her fees, I no longer had the funds to pay her fees in the estate. All the funds left in the estate belonged to me as shown on the inventory and settlement agreement between my attorney and my brother's attorney. In addition to these funds, the inventory and settlement agreements also showed that my brother also owed me a large sum of money. Because the funds for the sale of the property belonging to my father's estate were not given to me as agreed, I told Jessica to file to have these funds returned. Jessica then quit returning my calls and told me she would not do any more work on my father's estate or my custody case until her remaining fees were paid. She did not file to have the funds returned to my father's estate as requested by sent my cousin and her attorney a letter(about three months after my request) to returned the funds for the sale to me for my father's estate within 10 days. These letters were totally ignored. I wrote Jessica and told her that I did not think my father's estate should be charged for this illegal acquisition and sales of property belonging to his estate or for the other attorney reneging on the settlement offer we agreed to. (I do have a copy of this fax.) Since Jessica would no longer talk with me until her fees were paid, and would not file expose this illegal theft of my father's property, I released her. I did not find out until I hired another attorney that Jessica did not appear in court in reference to this sale of the property to advise the judge that this property belonged to my father's estate and in fact resigned from representing me in this estate. I also did not find out until I hired another attorney that Jessica filed a lien against my father's estate because I had not paid her fees. Nor was I aware that she was talking with my ex-husband, was also involved in a case between my brother and his ex wife, and that one of my nephews(brother's sons) was also a friend and client of hers.
