[zinzeez]

The Proceedings Authorization Committee of the Law Society of Upper Canada (LSUC) will be addressing a list of complaints against my mother’s lawyer within the next month that I filed back in November 2004. After a very lengthy & thorough investigation, the assigned Law Society investigator has informed me that he/she will be in a position to give me & as well as the lawyer against whom the allegations were made further information regarding the disposition of the complaints shortly—i.e. the Committee’s decision as to whether further regulatory action is to be taken against the solicitor..
As a result of this lawyer’s deceptive actions, misuse of a Power of Attorney & Trust Document to transfer property titles out of my name without my knowledge - I have suffered enormous losses financially & emotionally, including a heartbreaking estrangement from my frail very elderly mother with whom I had enjoyed a close relationship up until 2 years ago.

I would be most appreciative if you could provide an answer to these queries of concern.

How would the Ontario. Statute of Limitations apply in this particular case if I decide I wish to file a civil suit against the lawyer

Is it usual & customary to wait until the LSUC issues its ruling on a lawyer's professional status, and if it will or will not take disciplinary action, before one makes a decision as to whether to proceed civilly? Is there any time danger to waiting for these rulings to be issued, especially if there are delays in holding and /or concluding the disciplinary hearing?

As I first filed my complaint with the LSUC in Nov. 2004, when will the Statute of Limitations expire for initiation of civil litigation proceedings specifically for this case?

I would be most appreciative if answers could be provided to these queries of concern. Thank you very much.

[CaptainForest]

According to The Limitations Act, your mother has 2 years upon discovery of the cause to file suit (to a max of 15 years).

So if she noticed these problems as of November 2004, she has only another few months to initiate a law suit.

Should you wait to see what LSUC's decision will be? NO

It is nice to wait in the beginning for a few months, but they can drag their feet, decided to overlook one of their own perhaps….

Your mother's SOL is running out, she needs to go see an attorney and file very soon.


What I am confused a bit about is why has your once close relationship with your mother suffered? If her lawyer misused her trust, assets, etc. would this not bring you 2 even closer together?

Anyway, SOL 2 years.

One more thing. You say that you filed a complaint November 2004. But when did your mother realize this lawyer was scamming her? October 2004? In which case the SOL will start in October.

[ScottGem]

A couple of points here. You say the lawyer transferred property out of your name. To whom did he transfer them? This seems to be a CRIMINAL case of fraud or theft. Why aren't you prosecuting him? Have you consulted your own attorney about this? I know you may be anti-lawyer at this point, but I really think you need one immediately.

[zinzeez]

Thank you Captain Forest & Scott Gem for so quickly responding and answering my query.
I do in fact have an accomplished Ontario lawyer. ( I reside in the US.) but in that his caseload is so heavy he often does not reply as quickly as I would like. In that I was urged by a neighbor to get a fast response, I googled and landed on this site.
Filing a lawsuit against the “title switching” real estate lawyer is only one issue (albeit a mammoth one) among the many issues in this unbelievably complex case. The details fill volumes and are already before the Superior Court. The 7th hearing will be later in October.

Among the players are my elderly blind invalid mother (a highly successful entrepreneurial investor until her health radically declined); an “unduly influential” male neighbor who offered and became my mother's full-time driver, caregiver as well as “surrogate son”, my mother's lawyer with whom he teamed up to transfer titles of 3 properties (half of each that had been previously legally gifted to me) to themselves with an agreement to transfer the money back to my mother's account. After the sale of the first property the lawyer did in fact do this but the caregiver conveniently extorted the funds within a few months. My mother is terrified to admit to this saying she gave him the money and he used it to fix her house.. There are times however she will blurt out that he's a thief but then she'll deny ever having said it.

How could the lawyer engineer this? He misappropriated a power of attorney and trust document he sweet talked me into signing in the presence of my mother by giving me an explanation I naively believed revolved around his obtaining ease of signature allowing my mother to sign property papers for me in my absence. He never revealed his true intentions, did not tell me I was entitled to independent legal advice, and frankly in the presence of my mother with whom I had a close loving relationship I had no reason to be suspicious of any ulterior motives. A few days later I went back home to the US. As the lawyer never sent me copies of the documents I completely forgot about them.
Fast forward 2 years later I was alerted by my mother's bank managers about suspicious activities.My mother was trying to get substantial loans by claiming her paid up house as equity. Problem: Her name as well as mine had been removed from title. When I came back to visit I went with my mother to the lawyer & he threw me out of his office saying he would not talk to my mother in my presence. The caregiver could stay but I had to leave.
.
I intervened & hired a lawyer who entrusted the Public Guardian to investigate. They ordered an assessment and she was deemed incapable of handling her finances. The PGT took over but my mother was urged on to challenge the assessment.

To make a very lengthy story short, the PGT is still her guardian of finances but in the absence of a personal care assessment which they've been planning on getting but haven't gotten a court order for yet, her caregiver is still there and he's being paid almost as much money as he stole before. (6 figures). The police won't lay charges , (though the bank archived all the checks) because my mother won't admit to being financially & emotionally abused.
By continuing to pay the caregiver & the 6 lawyers my mother hired but failed to overturn her financial incapacity assessment the PGT has almost run out of all my mother's money. Now they are planning to try to appeal to the court to get their hands on the funds from the only remaining portion of a property that the lawyer did not completely transfer out of my name (though he did switch my portion from 1/2 to 1/3.

I have incurred enormous legal costs trying to protect both mother's & my interests. Of course, under the influence of her “surrogate son” my mother views me as the traitor who betrayed her to the government & who also wants to throw her in a nursing home to die faster.

Heartbreaking & tragic!.

[nwaurora]

The Proceedings Authorization Committee of the Law Society of Upper Canada (LSUC) will be addressing a list of complaints against my mother’s lawyer within the next month that I filed back in November 2004. After a very lengthy & thorough investigation, the assigned Law Society investigator has informed me that he/she will be in a position to give me & as well as the lawyer against whom the allegations were made further information regarding the disposition of the complaints shortly—i.e. the Committee’s decision as to whether further regulatory action is to be taken against the solicitor..
As a result of this lawyer’s deceptive actions, misuse of a Power of Attorney & Trust Document to transfer property titles out of my name without my knowledge - I have suffered enormous losses financially & emotionally, including a heartbreaking estrangement from my frail very elderly mother with whom I had enjoyed a close relationship up until 2 years ago.

I would be most appreciative if you could provide an answer to these queries of concern.

How would the Ontario. Statute of Limitations apply in this particular case if I decide I wish to file a civil suit against the lawyer

Is it usual & customary to wait until the LSUC issues its ruling on a lawyer's professional status, and if it will or will not take disciplinary action, before one makes a decision as to whether or not to proceed civilly? Is there any time danger to waiting for these rulings to be issued, especially if there are delays in holding and /or concluding the disciplinary hearing?

As I first filed my complaint with the LSUC in Nov. 2004, when will the Statute of Limitations expire for initiation of civil litigation proceedings specifically for this case?

I would be most appreciative if answers could be provided to these queries of concern. Thank you very much.

Hi. Just received a call from a lawyer this afternoon and he told me that the limitation is that the case must be presented within the first 2. Now not sure where he got that from, sure hope is't not true for civil suits and personal injury claim, kThx, good luck