Lawyer Fights Subpoena in Thompson Estate Case

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

With the deadline just days away, the original attorney for the estate of the late U.S. Senator Fred Thompson has filed an objection to a subpoena requiring his deposition testimony this week.
In papers filed Tuesday in Davidson Probate Court, Charles A. Trost charged that he had not been given proper notice for the deposition and, in fact, still has not been served.
The objection is but the latest development in a continuing battle over the late senator and presidential candidate's estate.
Thompson's widow Jeri has filed an objection to a $14,000 claim filed by Trost's law firm, Waller Lansden Dortch and Davis, for work performed in an abortive effort to make last minute changes in the television actor's estate.
In the one-page filing Trost's lawyer said the subpoena was not properly served and that the estate's new attorneys had failed to follow proper procedures including providing at least 21 days advance notice.
The dispute over the bill first surfaced last year, but was put on hold about the same time Thompson's two sons by his first marriage charged that changes had been made in the estate plan when the late senator was no longer competent to approve such changes.
That dispute ended abruptly after Jeri Thompson complied with an order to provide the sons with details on any last minute changes in her husband's estate. She said the only change had been in the secondary beneficiary on a life insurance policy, a change that turned out to be irrelevant.
Because of the failed effort to change the estate plan's, the will finally filed for Thompson by Trost was over a decade old and omitted the two children from his marriage to Jeri.
The subpoena calls for Trost to appear for a deposition on Friday.
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Fred Thompson Estate Fee Fight Heats Up

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

The battle over legal fees being sought from the estate of the late Fred Thompson is heating back up with a series of actions in Davidson Probate Court this week.
In papers filed Wednesday, Jeri Thompson, the widow of the late actor and U.S. Senator, hired a new lawyer who promptly issued a subpoena and deposition notice to Charles Trost, the Nashville, Tenn. attorney whose firm's fees are in dispute.
The new attorney representing Jeri Thompson is John P. Konvalinka, a Chattanooga based attorney, court records show.
The subpoena requires Trost to appear for a deposition on July 21 at the offices of Neal and Harwell, which also has represented Thompson's estate.
Though the issue was put on hold months ago, Jeri Thompson has questioned some $14,000 billed by Trost's firm, Waller Lansden Dortch and Davis for estate work done in the weeks before the late presidential candidate passed away on Nov. 1, 2015.
In one filing she termed the fee request,"inappropriate, improper and not a valid claim."
The effort by the Waller firm to update Thompson's will and estate plans was an apparent failure and his estate was finally opened with a will over a decade old that did not include his children from his second marriage with Jeri.
The legal fees are not the only dispute to surface in the Thompson estate. Two of Thompson's children by his first marriage intervened in the estate charging that estate assets may have been shifted just prior to the senator's death and at a time when he was not competent to approve any changes.
That suspicion was apparently triggered when the fee dispute became public.
After Jeri Thompson complied with a court order to disclose details of the estate assets and any last minute changes, the two sons dropped their claim.
Jeri Thompson stated that the only change executed just before the senator's death was an inconsequential one, involving a secondary beneficiary on a life insurance policy.
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Clemmons Parole Bid Denied

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

A Tennessee board has turned down  parole for a disbarred Nashville attorney who pleaded guilty to stealing more than $1.3 million from wards and estates he had been appointed to oversee and protect.
The state Board of  Probation rejected  parole for John E. Clemmons, 69, who is serving a 25 year sentence after pleading guilty to stealing funds from wards and estates in Davidson and Rutherford Counties.
Clemmons began serving the sentence on Nov. 8, 2013. He is currently an inmate at the Trousdale Turner Correctional Center in Hartsville.
He will not be eligible for another try at parole until May of 2020. Without parole his sentence will not end until 2038.
A spokeswoman for the board said the decision to deny parole was based on the seriousness of the offenses he committed. According to board records Clemmons could have been released next month had the board approved.
Board spokeswoman Melissa McDonald said the first votes cast on Clemmons' case were three concurring votes to deny parole and review again in three years. The vote affirmed a recommendation from a board hearing officer, she said
Clemmons' thefts were first detected by John Bratcher, clerk and master of the Rutherford County Chancery Court.
Bratcher said he had no sympathy for Clemmons and he was pleased with the board's decision.
"John Clemmons stole from the people he had taken an oath to protect. He stole from the weak and incompetent, and he did it over a period of 10 years. He caused almost unspeakable anguish for the families of his victims. He should serve his sentence day for day," Bratcher said.
Clemmons had been named conservator for Russell Church, a retired Rutherford County teacher then living in a nursing home.
In 2013 Bratcher testified that Clemmons stole over $123,910.02 from Church's estate. He said that overall Clemmons took $1.3 million from four victims  Clemmons eventually entered a guilty plea to Rutherford theft charges. Church, court records show, was the only victim to fully recover the stolen funds.
In court documents Bratcher said that Clemmons' began stealing from Church on the very first day of his appointment. On that day, Nov. 22, 2011, Bratcher said, Clemmons took $21,644.46 from three of Church's accounts. He said in a statement to the court that Clemmons apparently used the funds to gamble at a Mississippi casino.
Following the discovery in Rutherford County an investigation of the dozens of cases Clemmons was appointed to oversee in Davidson County turned up three more cases in which Clemmons had stolen thousands of dollars.
He entered guilty pleas in all three Davidson cases.
Tersesa Lyle, whose mother, Nannie Malone, was one of Clemmons' victims, said she only learned of Clemmons' parole bid when contacted by a reporter.
She said the family was only able to recover a small fraction of the amount Clemmons admitted to stealing. The recovery came from a bond Clemmons was required to post when he was appointed as Malone's conservator in 2008.
But Lyle said the bond value was well below the nearly $1 million in assets, including a 68-acre farm, Clemmons took control of. Records show some of Malone's properties were sold off at auction for back taxes Clemmons failed to pay.
Records show within a matter of  days of his appointment as Malone's conservator by Davidson Probate Judge David "Randy" Kennedy, Clemmons began writing checks to  himself.
Malone died on Oct. 25, 2012.
One of the Davidson victims, Donald Griggs, did recover $10,000 under a court settlement with Metro. The February settlement came in a suit filed by Paul Gontarek, who replaced Clemmons as Griggs conservator. He charged that had court officials  done their job in monitoring Clemmons' activities, the $157,850 could never have been stolen.
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Fred Thompson's Widow Regrets Estate Fight

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

The widow of the late actor and politician Fred Thompson says she is glad the late U.S. Senator's two eldest sons by a prior marriage have agreed to drop their claims that improper and last minute changes were made in his estate.
Filings in Davidson Probate Court show Fred Thompson Jr. and Dan Thompson agreed to the dismissal of their claims after Jeri Thompson provided documents showing there were no last minute changes.
"Their claims do not and never did have any legal or factual merit," Jeri Thompson's lawyer William Ramsey said in a prepared statement.
"They misread (intentionally or otherwise) descriptions in legal bills that never should have been filed with the court," Ramsey said, adding "Like any other person who has been falsely accused, Mrs. Thompson is relieved that the justice system prevailed to defend her honor and word."
The dispute arose when another Nashville, Tenn. law firm, Waller Lansden, Dortch and Davis filed a claim against the Thompson estate. The claim included detailed information on an effort to put together a new will including the two children born after the one time presidential candidate married Jeri.
Ramsey said Jeri Thompson signed an affidavit stating that only one inconsequential change was made in the week's before Fred Thompson's death on Nov. 1, 2016. Nonetheless the two elder sons pressed their claim and Probate Judge David "Randy" Kennedy issued an order for Jeri Thompson to provide records regarding her late husband's assets and any changes made in the period leading up to his death.
The only change made was an inconsequential one involving the secondary beneficiary on a life insurance policy. Jeri Thompson was the primary beneficiary and had already redeemed the policy by the time the dispute arose, according to court records.
"Mrs. Thompsom regrets deeply the embarrassment done to her late husband's reputation, and the trauma and distress caused by these unfounded allegations," Ramsey concluded.
 Jeri Thompson has disputed the Waller Lansden claim for $14,450, but the matter has not yet been resolved. A hearing on the dispute was postponed at her request.
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Fight Over Fred Thompson Estate Settled

By Walter F. Roche Jr,

A family feud over the estate of the late actor/politician Fred Thompson has apparently been resolved and a complaint filed by his two oldest sons has been dismissed.
Papers filed this week in Davidson Probate Court in Nashville, Tenn. show that the claim against Thompson's widow Jeri Thompson by Fred Thompson Jr and Daniel D. Thompson was dismissed with the agreement of both parties.
The two eldest Thompson's sons filed the claim charging that Jeri Thompson might have made changes in the late senator's estate at a time when he was no longer competent to approve any such changes. The one time presidential candidate died Nov. 1, 2015.
Jeri Thompson responded by stating that the only change was an inconsequential one, involving a secondary beneficiary on a life insurance police that already had been redeemed by the primary beneficiary, Jeri Thompson.
Nonetheless, earlier this year Davidson Probate Judge David "Randy" Kennedy following a Jan. 23 hearing ordered Jeri Thompson to turn over to the two sons by a previous marriage a series of records including ownership records on a Florida property and the late senator's pension benefits from the Screen Actors Guild.
Jeri Thompson was ordered to provide the records, including any recent changes in ownership of his assets, by a Feb. 22 deadline.
The sons' claims followed disclosure that Jeri Thompson, the administrator of her husband's estate, was disputing a claim against the estate filed by a Nashville law firm for work done on Thompson's estate planning in the months before his death.
The billing statements from Waller Lansden Dortch and Davis showed that there was a last minute effort to marshall Thompson's assets, apparently in a scramble to draw up a new will.
The records indicate a new will was never drawn up and the will finally filed was over a decade old and omitted Thompson's two children born after his marriage to Jeri.
The dispute over the Waller firm's $14,450 bill has apparently not been resolved. A scheduled hearing on the issue was canceled at Jeri Thompson's request.

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Metro Settles Conservatorship Claim

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

Metro Nashville has agreed to pay $10,000 to settle a suit filed in behalf of a ward whose assets were depleted by $157,850 thanks to a court appointed conservator now serving an 18 year jail sentence.
The suit in behalf of Donald E. Griggs charged that if the Metro Probate Clerk's Office had done its job of monitoring Griggs' conservatorship, John E. Clemmons would not have been able to steal the $157,850.
Clemmons had failed to file required annual reports, but the clerk took no action. March 2012 was the date when the first missed annual report was due.
Clemmons, 69, entered guilty pleas to charges that he stole over $1 million from estates and conservatorships in Davidson and Rutherford counties.
Paul Gontarek, who was appointed to replace Clemmons as Griggs conservatorship said that the settlement was the best course based on recent rulings in the case.
"Given the earlier court ruling, it did not make financial sense to pursue the claim against Metro," Gontarek said when asked about the settlement.
In agreeing to the settlement, Metro attorneys wrote that "the payment is not an expression or implied admission of responsibility on the part of Metro government and that the Metro government specifically denies all such claims for damages against it."
 Senior Judge Ben H. Cantrell ruled that the probate clerk could be held liable for failing to monitor Griggs case but he also concluded that Griggs could only recover amounts stolen by Clemmons after March of 2012.
"Any losses that occurred prior to that date cannot be attributed to the fault of the clerk's office," Cantrell wrote. 
Cantrell also ruled against another claim filed by Gontarek in behalf of another ward on different grounds. In the case of William Link, Cantrell concluded that a statute of limitations barred any recovery.
Clemmons admitted to stealing some $500,000 of Link's assets. Clemmons had served as both a conservator and estate administrator for Link and his disabled daughter.
Gontarek is appealing the Link ruling.
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Fred Thompson's Widow Ordered to Provide Records

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

The widow of the late U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson has been ordered to turn over records showing any asset transfers or changes in beneficiaries in the months preceding his death in late 2015.
In a four-page order issued this week, Davidson Probate Judge David "Randy" Kennedy ordered Jeri Thompson to provide the records to the late actor's two oldest children, Fred D Thompson and Daniel Thompson by Feb. 22.
Thompson's two older sons have charged that Jeri Thompson was attempting to change her husband's estate plan at a time when he was no longer legally competent to approve any changes.
The will actually filed in Thompson's estate was dated over a decade before his Nov. 1, 2015 death and did not mention the two children born after his marriage to Jeri.
Kennedy's order followed a Jan. 23 hearing on the issue.
The order requires Jeri Thompson to provide copies of deeds prepared by ta Nashville law firm in October of 2015 regarding property in Florida.
The order also applies to any change in beneficiaries on life insurance policies between July 2015 and October 2015.
The same information must be turned over regarding Thompson's pension from the Screen Actor Guild.
Under the order information on all accounts and assets must also be provided, though the order specifically excludes account numbers.
The dispute arose after a Nashville law firm, Waller Lansden Dortch and Davis submitted a claim against Thompson's estate for $14,450. The filing included detailed information on efforts to the amend the retired actor's estate plans.
The two sons, children of Thompson's first marriage, then filed their claims.
Jeri Thompson responded by stating that the only change was in the contingent beneficiary on a life insurance policy. And, she said, that change proved inconsequential because she was the primary beneficiary and had already collected on the policy.
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