YOU BE THE JUDGE
This website is still under construction.
The website is intended to provide you with a number of reasons why we would never create a Michigan trust, use Edward Jones for financial services, or why you must be extremely cautious about retaining any Michigan attorney purporting to be experienced in estate and trust administration and litigation, and how to watch for dishonest attorneys.
This growing website will ultimately provide all documents and relevant Michigan law . . .
"The lawyer is part of a judicial system charged with upholding the law." MRPC 1.6 - Comments
But not in Michigan, particularly when it involves elderly adults!!!
If any one of the individuals or their companies referred to in this site could take the site down,
they would do all they could. Fortunately, truth is an absolute defense to a defamation claim.
Wilson v. Sparrow Health Systems, 290 Mich App 149, 155; 799 N.W.2d 224 (2010)
Disclaimer: This website, managed by Barbara Siddell, is based on public court records from Linda K. Smith and Kirk Siddell versus David Heilman (Case Nos. 20-62158-CZ, and 21-62791-TV, 21-62806-TV, and 21-62888-TV -- Allegan County Probate Court). The public records document misconduct such as violations of MCL 700.1214 (self-dealing), MCL 700.7604 (notice requirements), and MCL 750.174a (elder exploitation), MCL 750.218(1) (false pretenses), mail fraud under 18 USC 1341, wire fraud under 18 USC 1343, and extortion.
The claims herein are supported by public filings and inspired by Professor Peter Nicolas’s 2001 article on the “probate mafia” (Southern California Law Review). The opinions expressed herein are protected by First Amendment rights and do not assert unproven criminality in a court of law. The site aims to raise awareness of alleged fiduciary fraud, self-dealing, elder exploitation, and dishonest attorneys in Michigan probate and trust administration, advocating for reform by presenting facts and opinions based on public court records,
without intent to defame.
For official records, contact Allegan County Probate Court or view filings at micourts.gov.
Our family is dedicated to warning of and protecting elderly and vulnerable adults of the abuse and financial exploitation of fiduciaries such as trustees and personal representatives and attorneys who weaponize the law to conceal abuse, financial exploitation, securities fraud, bank fraud, money laundering and tax evasion.
But there's more!
The abuse and financial exploitation doesn't stop there.
We are here to also expose the documented gaslighting, incompetence,
abdication of duty, and misconduct of the
Allegan County Probate Court
and every judge of the Michigan judicial system who
failed to enforce the following Michigan laws:
MCL 700.7303(d) and (e) - Trustee disqualification for conflicts of interest
MCL 700.1403(b)(ii)(D) - Michigan law that limits a probate court's ability to enter binding orders to the extent there is no conflict of interest
between the trustee and the trust beneficiaries
MCL 700.1403(c)(i) - Notice to interested parties
MCL 700.1214 - Fiduciary self-dealing prohibited
MCL 700.7814, et seq. - Trustee's duty to provide notice to beneficiaries of all material information necessary for beneficiaries to protect their interests. "A lawyer shall not unlawfully obstruct another party’s access to evidence; unlawfully alter, destroy, or conceal a document or other material having potential evidentiary value;
or counsel or assist another person to do any such act." MRPC 3.4(a)
MCL 700.7604(1)(b) - Trustee's duty to provide notice sufficient for a beneficiary to bring a proceeding to contest a trust within six months
MCL 700.7801 - Breach of fiduciary duty
MCL 700.7802, et seq. - Trustee loyalty; transactions involving conflicts of interest affecting beneficiary interests
MCL 700.7820a, et seq. - Michigan's decanting law and notice
MCL 700.1205(3) - Two-year statutory tolling for fraud
in the circumvention of the provisions
of EPIC and double damages whether innocent or not.
The Michigan Judiciary ignored the following evidence:
Documents and testimony that demonstrated in January of 2016 Ralph Siddell began receiving personal care defined under MCL 750.145m(m) pursuant to a Genworth Financial long-term care policy that included cognitive supervision.
On March 8, 2017, David Heilman drove Ralph Siddell to Attorney Helder's office to execute a trust restatement created by Helder, Stoutin and Heilman to benefit Stoutin and Heilman that adversely affected the interests of the remaining beneficiaries that included Linda Smith, All Saints Episcopal Church and Kirk Siddell.
On February 10, 2017 and February 22, 2017, where Attorney Helder concealed from the Allegan County Probate Court that Ralph Siddell received personal care and cognitive supervision. Helder failed to advise the court that Ralph was a vulnerable adult pursuant to MCL 750.145m(u)(i) and (iii) and MCL 750.174a(15)(c) and vulnerable to exploitation under MCL 400.11(f).
Following Ralph's death on August 30, 2019, ignored the documented fraudulent concealment by Heilman and Helder who violated MCL 700.7814(1)
David Heilman concealed Ralph's death from his son, Kirk. Heilman signed documents under false pretenses and used electronic transmissions that allowed Dykstra Funeral Home to cremate and dispose of Ralph's body.
David Heilman, Robert Brower, Angela Caulley and Miller Johnson concealed from some of the beneficiaries the litigation filed by Linda Smith in 20-62158-CZ for over a year.
False pretenses, perjury and mail and wire fraud of David Heilman and Robert D. Brower on July 20, 2020, when they transmitted interrogatory responses claiming at Ralph's death he had no living relatives.
Notwithstanding that Ralph identified Kirk Siddell as his son in his trust, the judiciary ignored David Heilman's false pretenses, perjury and wire fraud at his December 18, 2020 deposition conducted over the internet where he claimed the following:
Kirk Siddell is not Ralph's son
Ralph relinquished his parental rights
Kirk was adopted by his mother's second husband
Ralph did not have a son
David Heilman's execution of a statement under oath that contained false pretenses under MCL 750.218(5) used to circumvent the provisions of EPIC to convert Ralph's $30,000 vehicle where Heilman claimed to be a devisee, overstated the odometer and understated the value of the vehicle to circumvent provisions of EPIC.
We believe the documents and evidence demonstrates the Michigan judiciary spat on the U.S. Constitution, the Michigan Constitution, Michigan laws, Michigan Court Rules, the Rules of Professional Conduct, and Rules of Judicial Conduct to legitimize vulnerable adult exploitation, elder adult exploitation, and fraud calculated to damage charitable organizations and conceal conduct that we allege constitutes securities fraud, bank fraud, money laundering and tax fraud.
Welcome to The Michigan Probate Mafia
"For the most part, probate proceedings take place before specialized state courts, and there is no evidence suggesting that the potential for bias against out of-state litigants is any less than it is in state courts of general jurisdiction. If anything, the signs point in the other direction: judges who sit in some probate courts need not even be lawyers or have legal training and probate courts have a reputation for bias and corruption. Thus, relegating suits brought pursuant to complex and significant federal statutes such as RICO or § 1983 to potentially biased and untrained state probate court judges by invoking the exception seems anathematic."
See, CHARLES REMBAR, THE LAW OF THE LAND: THE EVOLUTION OF OUR LEGAL SYSTEM 71 (1980) (noting that the New York probate courts have a history as “factories of corruption”); Ronald Chester, Less Law, but More Justice?: Jury Trials and Mediation As Means of Resolving Will Contests, 37 DUQ. L. REV. 173, 178–81 (1999) (documenting instances of bias). Cf. CHEMERINSKY, supra note 27, at 290 (discussing bias concerns in diversity jurisdiction in general and citing Jerry Goldman & Kenneth S. Marks, Diversity Jurisdiction and Local Bias: A Preliminary Empirical Inquiry, 9 J. LEGAL STUD. 93, 97–99 (1980)); Note, The Choice Between State and Federal Court in Diversity Cases in Virginia, 51 VA. L. REV. 178 (1965)) (discussing studies indicating that 40–60 percent of litigants who file diversity cases in federal court cite fear of local bias as a motivating factor).
FIGHTING THE PROBATE MAFIA: A DISSECTION OF THE PROBATE EXCEPTION TO FEDERAL COURT JURISDICTION,
PETER NICOLAS, Assistant Professor, University of Washington School of Law. The author would like to thank Craig Allen, Thomas Andrews, Diane Atkinson-Sanford, Ian Birk, Magdalena Cuprys, Joan Fitzpatrick, Ann Hemmens, Kate O’Neill, Chris Waraksa, Mary Whisner, and Senior Editor, Lisa Ruesch, of the Southern California Law Review for valuable research, feedback, and assistance.
This website is dedicated to the memory of life-long companions
William H. Johnson Jr. & Ralph A. Siddell
Bill and Ralph were companions since 1963 who legally married August 16, 2015
at the ripe old age of 85 years.
Based upon documentary evidence, it is alleged that William H. Johnson Jr., Ralph A. Siddell, our beloved aunt Linda Smith (Bill Johnson's sister), All Saints Episcopal Church, and Kirk Siddell
are the victims of abuse and financial exploitation by the following individuals and their companies:
Edward Jones IAR - George Alan Stoutin, CRD 4481116
Edward Jones employee David R. Heilman (Stoutin's Husband)
Edward Jones IAR - Barbara McNally, CRD 2013910
Edward Jones IAR - Glen McNeil, CRD 6537804
Jeffrey Helder of Cunningham & Dalman,
Robert D. Brower of Miller Johnson
Angela M. Caulley of Miller Johnson
Neil Marchand of Miller Johnson
Thomas Kuiper of Kuiper Kraemer
Laura Morris of Warner, Norcross + Judd
David Skidmore of Warner, Norcross + Judd
and the
Michigan Judicial System
The Michigan Probate Mafia
Recommended movie to watch: "I Care A Lot" - by J. Blakeson
Though fictional, "I Care a Lot" is based on events that occur all too frequent.
The information in this website will be published in book form, and we expect to release a documentary film
Exposing fraudulent and criminal conduct by caregivers, fiduciaries and trustees, and a corrupt judicial system one state at a time.
Our Mission Statement
Committed to safeguarding the rights of vulnerable adults by exposing corruption in Michigan's judiciary and fiduciary practices related to trusts and estates.
Fiduciary and Trustee
Contact Us
As you follow us and discover our experience, we would love to hear from you regarding trusts and estates and we will give you our insight on hiring an ethical and skilled lawyer.
Mail@MichiganProbateMafia.com