In addition, as a professional, court appointed trustee, Ms. Adler had an even higher standard of care in her role as trustee.
DUTY OF LOYALTY: A trustee may not seek advantage from a beneficiary, nor may a trustee wield power for his or her own "aggrandizement, preference or advantage" to the detriment of the beneficiaries.
This case was settled during mediation on October 19, 2009. Ms. Adler and Mr. Siracusa were a party to the mediation. After the mediation, I continued to work with Ms. Adler so that she could complete her trust accounting. Ms. Adler even had full access to all of my bank accounts. On December 9, 2009, Ms. Adler filed a petition accusing me of the same allegations included in the case that settled during mediation on October 19th. She even filed the new case under the old case number. The December 9th case was filed solely to benefit the Trustee and Larry Siracusa and Company who have since filed numerous frivolous motions and petitions. To date total legal fees are in excess of $500,0000. This case began in July 2009 and to date, I have been denied my constitutional right to a trial to prove my innocence...and the case was settled in October of 2009 to boot.
DUTY TO AVOID CONFLICTS OF INTEREST: A trustee has a basic fiduciary duty to avoid conflicts of interests.
Ms. Adler befriended Kristine Wright, paid her to care for my Grandmother, and spent thousands of dollars on Kristine Wright's payroll problems. Ms. Adler was informed that Ms. Wright was convicted of felony forgery yet still allowed her to care for Catherine DeMartini. Even after it became clear that Ms. Wright was unduly influencing my Grandmother, isolating her from family members and spending trust money with not documentation, Ms. Adler did not replace her. Instead, she paid Kristine Wright over $4000 per month and room and board for my Grandmother while she was staying in Millbrae. Kristine Wright is Tom DeMartini's girlfriend. Ms. Wright has experience in elder abuse. In 1997, she did the same thing to her ex-husband's family, had the great-aunt change her will making Ms. Wright the beneficiary while excluding the rest of the family and after the aunt died, Ms. Wright was accused of murder.
DUTY OF IMPARTIALITY: The trustee has a duty to deal impartially with all beneficiaries of a trust and must act impartially in investing and managing trust property, while at the same time considering the differing interests of the beneficiaries.
Ms. Adler blindly followed the recommendations made by one beneficiary while excluding the other two beneficiaries...one of whom was the only living child of the Trustor, my Uncle Paul. Ms. Adler dealt exclusively with Ms. Wright even though she was not a family member. My Grandmother met Ms. Wright in December of 2008 and knew her just 8 weeks before Ms. Wright devised her plan to take over Catherine DeMartini's Trust. Ms. Adler knew of Ms. Wright's intentions as well as being aware of her felony conviction. Four of Catherine DeMartini's Trust documents were forged!
DUTY TO DISCLOSE: The trustee has the duty to keep all of the trust beneficiaries reasonably informed of the trust and its administration.
A Trustee is required to contact beneficiaries of a trust regarding the details of the trust within 60 days of the trustor's death. Ms. Adler did not do so.
DUTY NOT TO DELEGATE: The Trustee has the duty to render personal services and not to delegate to others acts that the trustee should be reasonably expected to perform.
In a document prepared for the settlement judge, Ms. Adler allowed Tom DeMartini's attorney to prepare a financial overview. This was definitely something that should not have been delegated let alone to the attorney for the favored beneficiary.
DUTY TO ENFORCE OR DEFEND CLAIMS: The trustee has a general duty to take reasonable steps to enforce claims of the trust. The trustee must consider the costs of enforcing the claim, the chances of success and the likelihood of collecting a judgment.
This is perhaps the worst breach of all. Ms. Adler's claim has generated approximately $500,000 in legal fees. I have provided Ms. Adler with over 1200 pages of supporting documentation that proves that her allegations are false, and it is clear that I did not do what I am accused of. There is no doubt I will prove my innocence. There will be no judgment because I am not guilty. I was honest with Ms. Adler from day one and cooperated with everyone of her requests.
