In 2016, Jeffrey Helder had been the long-standing attorney for Edward Jones Financial Advisor George Alan Stoutin and employee David R. Heilman, who was George Stoutin's romantic companion.
In December of 2016, Attorney Jeffrey Helder received a call and was asked to create estate planning documents for William H. Johnson Jr. and Ralph A. Siddell. Helder never spoke to Bill or Ralph beforehand and never obtained a retainer agreement. It is alleged that Helder created estate plans for Bill and Ralph based upon the instructions from George Alan Stoutin and David R. Heilman.
On December 14, 2016, Attorney Helder transmitted estate documents for Bill and Ralph via email that he had created. This was two days before Bill Johnson passed away on December 16, 2016.
At the time Helder transmitted the documents to Stoutin and Heilman, Bill was receiving end-of-life care in a Grand Rapids Hospital, while Ralph was receiving cognitive supervision and personal care defined under MCL 750.145m(m). Critically, Bill and Ralph were 86 and elder under 42 USC 1397j(5), adults vulnerable to exploitation under MCL 400.11(f) and vulnerable adults under MCL 750.145m(u).
Emails demonstrate that in January of 2017, Helder, Stoutin and Heilman began creating amendments to Ralph Siddell's estate plans.
On February 24, 2017, Helder transmitted a redlined draft of a trust restatement to Ralph. Helder allowed Heilman to explain the draft restatement to Ralph. The Redlined Draft is deceptively redlined. It omits distributions to family, and subordinates distributions to Ralph's son and All Saints Episcopal Church, and other to an expanded pet trust and administrative fees. These terms allowed Heilman to evade distributions to any beneficiary.
Heilman drove Ralph to sign the March 8, 2017 Restatement that benefited Stoutin and Heilman, and essentially disinherited family and charities.
Stoutin, Heilman and Helder allegedly used Ralph as a conduit for financial exploitation under MCL 750.174a to directly and indirectly obtain money and property under the William H. Johnson Jr. Living Trust and the Ralph A. Siddell Living Trust.
Given the success of the alleged fraud scheme, it is alleged that Helder, along with other attorneys in Michigan, are repeating similar conduct to profit through the exploitation of elderly vulnerable adults.
We believe that his law practice needs to be audited by the DOJ and the IRS Criminal Division.
