The Law Office of Theresa L. McConville

If you need a Trust Attorney, don’t walk –RUN away from Theresa McConville. She is all about delays to run up her fee’s. My Mom was 101 years old and everything was paid for in this very simple trust. We are at 16 months now and $ 15,966 and waiting 2 more months for an unnecessary court date — can’t wait for that bill. Probate would have been a lot faster and cheaper! I personally think she worked a deal with my brother, the Trustee, where he would let her do all his work and they could split the profits. Her excuse for going to court was I modified her release of the trustee «for any and all claims pertaining to any acts of the trustee reflected in the account» by adding «as long as all acts were done in a lawful manner». You would have thought I stabbed her in the heart and now we are going to court to run up the fees even more. What am I to think when a lawyer won’t agree to doing things in a lawful manner? AND she is holding $ 30,000 for 3 years for any tax matters! My mom’s sister died 3 years ago and I was the trustee. Granted I did a lot of work, but the trust was finalized in 5 months, I paid the trust attorney a little over $ 2,000 and withheld no money for tax purposes because in these simple cases there is none. If you are in Camarillo and need a trust attorney, I used Staker Law. They will work with the trustee and do it fast and keep costs down. I learned a lot from this ordeal. When making a trust DO NOT make a family member the trustee. There are many private companies that will act as an unbiased trustee. I live in Malibu and am in the phone book if you want the full story — Bill Ernst