A California appellate court on Wednesday referred a Pacifica, Calif., lawyer to the State Bar for investigation, disturbed that she might have manipulated a now-deceased elderly client into marrying her and changing his trust documents for her benefit.
“We find the circumstances of this case to be troubling,” Justice Robert Dondero wrote in an unpublished ruling for San Francisco’s 1st District Court of Appeal. “In particular, an inference may be drawn that appellant, a licensed attorney, knowingly made a false representation on a recorded instrument in an attempt to take advantage of a client in order to secure a portion of his estate for herself.”
