This is a leaflet I created to hand to anyone who might want info about why the heck I'm doing this.
My father, Richard Wolfe died in 2013. My mother, Ellen Wolfe died 3 years later in 2016. The troubles between me and my oldest brother, who had replaced me as the Trustee for two family Trusts, started just after my father died. My brother tried to manipulate a change he favored to a lot line on some family property we owned up north. Why this was so important to him is still not entirely clear. My mother and I did what we felt was best (but not what my brother wanted), and this made him very upset. In response, he immediately worked with a lawyer in Midland (Joe Weiler) and convinced our mother to agree to some big changes to two family Trusts – such as dramatically changing the primary Trustees and the succession list, including adding his wife as his co-Trustee. He also did things that made our mother suffer, primarily coercing my sister into removing much of her mail before she saw it, and later into helping him to take away our mother's check book from her. (She had not been declared mentally incompetent, because she wasn't.) Having her checkbook effectively confiscated by my older brother made our mother unhappy until the day she died.
After our mom died, things became more and much more difficult for my sister to take trips, all of which I organized. Further, no financial records of the Trust were ever provided (as is required by law). When my sister challenged my brother's wife for this info, she publicly blew up at my sister. (My often angry sister-in-law didn't even know they were obligated to provide annual reports.) It was at that point that I filed a lawsuit to have them removed as Trustees. I thought that doing so would at least allow me to tell my story to the Judge. Nope - I was never given that chance. The suit dragged on for months as the Trustees and their attorney completed the required accountings - all the while this was going on they were spending money from my sister's Trust like it was water gushing over a dam. They also shrewdly used the amount of money they were spending as a psychological weapon to attempt to get my sister to demand that I drop the law suit, telling her time and again how much of her Trust they were spending defending themselves. (How this is legal, especially when they were in Breach of Trust, I’ll never know.)
I finally buckled to the pressure and agreed to a mediated settlement that gave me control of a small (10 grand) renewable pot of money every year (a "mini-Trust" as it were) that I could use to help my sister, mostly to pay for some trips for her. But when I agreed to this, I was also effectively duped into agreeing to sign a “Mutual Release” agreement that I didn’t know would be a part of the settlement, and hadn’t even been written yet. When I saw what their lawyer did write, I objected, and I refused to sign. I drafted my own version that I felt was reasonable, but the Judge looked at that and decided that I MUST voluntarily sign Joe’s version. I finally relented, but also resigned as the “mini-Trust” Trustee, and wrote a letter detailing my complaints. She took umbrage to that, and demanded I sign the very same agreement a 2nd time, only this time with no complaints stapled to it, or else go to jail for contempt of Court. Had I not recetnly had a relapse of my prostate cancer, I would have gone to jail, but I had treatments pending that I very much needed, so I finally resigned the darn release. I also arranged for another brother to take over as the mini-Trust Trustee.
As to my protest – finally in March of 2024, my brother’s lawyer (Joe Weiler) finally complete all of the accountings which indicated how much money was actually spent on the lawsuit. (Click here to see an expense summary.) (It was over 100 grand.) Based on what I was finally provided, I was able to determine not only the extent of the damage to my sister’s Trust fund, but a likelihood that Mr. Weiler may have overcharged for his services by as much as 15 thousand dollars. (Click here to see my formal complaint for that.) It seems unlikely that Judge Allen will take any action against Attorney Weiler, but maybe she will surprise me. In the meantime, I am doing my best to see if I can get anyone to notice all of the questionable things that have occurred in this year’s long debacle. I also learned a lot about what makes a good Trustee vs a bad one. In a nutshell, an angry sister-in-law that lives 2000 miles away (and who has a score to settle) does not make a good Trustee. (Click here to see my analysis of what characteristics make a good Trustee.)
Here are the links to a few of the interesting documents I have posted on my primary lawsuit webpage:
Reasons I filed this lawsuit. in December of 2021. (Written on June 1, 2022.)
10 reasons why I filed this lawsuit.
My indignation and resignation letter issued on Jan. 20, 2023, after being forced to sign a hold harmless agreement that stated I was doing so voluntarily, when I obviously was NOT.
My outrage and resignation letter Writing this letter convinced Judge Allen to find me in Contempt of Court. I felt like I was in dictatorship like Russia or China, not the Constitutional Republic of the United States of America.
Copies of two ACLU inquiries I filed, a MI Attorney General complaint I submitted, and a submission to the Michigan Judicial Review Board. I submitted the first inquiry based on the Trustees flagrantly spending Trust money and weaponizing that against Anne and myself. I submitted the 2nd one based on the manner I was forced to sign Joe Weiler's version of the Mutual Release and Hold Harmless Agreement and was threatened with Contempt of Court if I didn't sign, and then I was charged with Contempt of Court even when I did sign but also complained about the "signing on my own free will" clause. I issued an Attorney General Complaint based on this also. I also filed a grievance with the Judicial Tenure Commission based on the entirety of the case and the problems that occurred. (One example, the Judge held 6 hearings with the (high paid) lawyers, but none with family members.)
ACLU submission #1
ACLU submission #2
Attorney General complaint filed regarding Judge Allen and my Contempt of Court charges
Judicial Review complaint filed regarding Judge Allen and the way she handled the case
Finally, here is a link to another webpage I created that has a boat load of information about the case involving my sister's Trust, and why I filed it: Trust and lawsuit info