Forged Wills, Inheritances to Lawyers, Jail!

Something a lot of people ask me about is whether my estate planning clients ever attempt to leave me money. The answer is yes, and that seems to fascinate folks at cocktail parties. I've never actually thought of accepting, but occasionally clients (this has been exclusively widows) have offered to include me in their estate plan. I've been offered (I guess that's the term I'd use) up to $100,000. While this is flattering, I think the conflict of interest and undue influence of such a bequest is obvious, even to someone who's never gone to a legal ethics class.

Apparently this concept was lost on Attorney Francis X. Morrisey, Jr. Mr. Morrisey was just convicted of forging the signature of heiress Brook Astor on her will. He has had a history of receiving large inheritances from wealth clients. I guess this finally caught up to him, and he now faces 8 years in prison.

Here's a New York Times article detailing how he's received a great deal of money over the years from wealthy clients ( :

NY TIMES ARTICLE

Here's a Wall Street Journal Article detailing the conviction of Morrisey and Ms. Astor's son Anthony Marshall.

WSJ ARTICLE