In re Whalen

888 P.2d 395, 256 Kan. 944, 1995 Kan. LEXIS 13
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedJanuary 27, 1995
DocketNo. 72,543
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 888 P.2d 395 (In re Whalen) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Whalen, 888 P.2d 395, 256 Kan. 944, 1995 Kan. LEXIS 13 (kan 1995).

Opinion

Per Curiam:

This is an original proceeding in discipline filed by the Office of the Disciplinary Administrator against Bernard E. Whalen, an attorney admitted to the practice of law in Kansas. The complaint, filed as case No. B5677, was heard before a hearing panel of the Kansas Board for Discipline of Attorneys. Whalen appeared before this court and advised the court that he does not wish to file exceptions to the panel’s report, findings, and recommendations and that he regrets his actions.

This disciplinary proceeding relates to Whalen’s actions as a bank trust officer (Count I) and as an attorney in private practice (Count II).

The panel’s summary of the evidence in support of Count I provides the factual background in the trust officer matter:

“In 1969 Ms. Scheetz established a charitable trust which was prepared by a Denver law firm. She and Helene Hickert were the co-trustees of the trust. She indicated to Respondent that the administration of the charitable trust became too burdensome for her. She told Respondent that she was constantly receiving calls from persons seeking distributions from the trust. Respondent suggested that she might transfer the assets of her charitable trust to a charitable trust which had previously been established by and was administered by the First National Bank of Goodland. She agreed to this suggestion and on March 9, 1985 she and her co-trustee assigned to the First National Bank Charitable Trust the mineral rights located in two quarter sections of land in Washington County, Colorado, which was the sole asset of the charitable trust she had previously created. Respondent prepared the assignment for Ms. Scheetz’ signature. [945]*945The assignment was introduced into evidence as Respondent’s Exhibit R1 and contained the following provisions:
“2. The irrevocable trust agreement of the First National Bank in Good-land, Goodland, Kansas, hereby agrees to administer that trust in accordance with the provisions of the trust, making contributions to religious, charitable, scientific, literary or educational purposes.
“3. The income of the trust shall be distributed by the Trust Department of the First National Bank in Goodland, Goodland, Kansas, and their determination on the distribution shall be final and binding. However, the First National Bank in Goodland agrees to seek the [advice] and counsel of Teresa M. Scheetz and Helene Hickert, or either of them, as to tire distribution.
“Respondent testified that Ms. Scheetz wanted the income distributed primarily to Catholic charities. From the spring of 1985 through the summer of 1989 Respondent was the bank’s contact with Ms. Scheetz and he was the one who sought the advice and counsel of Ms. Scheetz in making distributions. During this period Respondent was the person on behalf of the bank who made the final decision as to whom distributions would be made.
“Respondent testified that he became concerned that the distributions of Ms. Scheetz’s trust income being made by the bank violated the provisions of the assignment by Ms. Scheetz to the bank charitable trust. He was especially concerned that die bank was distributing money from the trust income directly to First National Bank in payment of a note owed to the bank by the Goodland Activity Center, a charitable organization in Goodland. Apparently, Respondent initially approached Ms. Scheetz at the request of the bank president, Mr. McCants, to determine whether it was acceptable to her to use the income for those payments. Ms. Scheetz ‘reluctantly’ agreed that the payments could be made from the income. Respondent testified that in his later conversations with Ms. Scheetz she indicated that she no longer approved of continuing these payments. Respondent testified that he discussed this fact with Mr. McCants, but the bank continued to make some payments on the GAC note from Sheetz trust income.
“In December, 1988 Respondent established the St. Patrick’s Charitable Trust under which he was both the Settlor and Trustee. On July 20,1989, Respondent executed on behalf of the bank, both an assignment and a deed to St. Patrick’s Charitable Trust of the mineral interests transferred to the First National Bank trust by Ms. Scheetz. He later attempted to complete a transfer order with the oil producer to direct the income to St. Patrick’s trust.
“Some time in 1990, the bank discovered that these transfers had taken place and confronted Respondent. Ultimately, the mineral rights were transferred back to the bank trust and no income payments were diverted from the bank trust to the St. Patrick’s trust.
“Larry McCants, the President of the First National Bank of Goodland testified that he was not aware of the transfer of the mineral interests and did not authorize them. The bank was forced to report the transfers to the Comptroller [946]*946of Currency and the bank was investigated as a result of the transfers. McCants discovered that Respondent had made distributions to individuals and organizations who may not have been qualified to receive distributions from the trust. In order to convince Respondent to transfer the mineral interests back to the bank an agreement had to be reached concerning the future disposition of the trust income.
“Both Respondent and McCants testified that in 1989 Respondent had health problems, including insulin-dependent diabetes and heart problems which required angioplasty procedures. McCants felt that these health problems greatly affected Respondent’s performance and judgment. He stated that as a result of Respondent’s physical condition, the trust department was in ‘chaos’.”

The Disciplinary Panel’s Final Report

The following pertinent findings and recommendations were made by the panel:

“FINDINGS OF FACT
“By clear and convincing evidence the panel unanimously finds that:
Count I
“2. While acting in his capacity as trust officer for the First National Bank of Goodland, Respondent knowingly transferred assets from a trust administered by the bank to a trust which was administered by Respondent as an individual trustee.
“3. The transfer of assets was made without the knowledge or consent of any other employee of tire bank and was a violation of his fiduciary duty to the bank.-
Count II
“4. Respondent prepared living trusts and pour-over wills at the request of John and Frieda Nelson. In so doing Respondent established an attorney-client relationship with both John and Frieda Nelson. [The background in the Nelson matter is explained by the panel in its Count II conclusions of law.]
“5. Respondent represented two of the five sons of John and Frieda Nelson after the death of John Nelson concerning the Estate of John Nelson and the living trust of John Nelson. This representation involved matters which are related to the subjects discussed and the work performed for John and Frieda Nelson by Respondent in preparing their estate plan.
“6. The position taken by the sons represented by Respondent was directly opposed to the position taken by Frieda Nelson.
“7.

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Related

In re Whalen
121 P.3d 455 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 2005)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
888 P.2d 395, 256 Kan. 944, 1995 Kan. LEXIS 13, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-whalen-kan-1995.