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Lawyer E. LeBron Free finally files papers so Carl Poling's estate can be administered - 10 years after Poling's death.
By DEBORAH O'NEIL
© St. Petersburg Times, published July 10, 1999
As she fought lung cancer in the last years of her life in an Ohio nursing home, Thelma Palmer knew her brother, Carl Poling, had died in Safety Harbor leaving her part of a small estate.
For two years, she tried to reach the Clearwater lawyer whose name appeared on a letter notifying her of the inheritance, at the time valued at at least $35,000. But the lawyer, E. LeBron Free, who was entrusted by Poling to oversee his estate, did not return phone calls or respond to letters from the family, said Palmer's son, William Davis.
While she and others in her family wondered what to do next, Free did virtually nothing to follow through on Poling's last wishes. From Poling's death in 1989 until this year, Free failed to take even the first step toward getting the heirs the money Poling left them. Free wrote the will in 1985.
On Friday, a Florida Bar official said the group has opened an investigation into Free's handling of the estate after reading a Times story. Also Friday, after a court inquiry into the estate, Free finally filed the necessary paperwork with the court so Poling's estate can be administered.
Susan Bloemendaal, a Florida Bar staff attorney, said its investigation was launched June 30. She declined to comment further on the pending investigation.
Palmer died in 1991 without collecting the inheritance her brother wanted her to have. Another sister named in the will, Louise Trosscasky, also died in a nursing home without receiving her share of the estate.
"It's a shame," said Linda Teter, Trosscasky's daughter. "Aunt Thelma could have used it to pay for medical expenses. She had a very limited income. I wish they'd been able to have some benefit."
Poling left behind his Safety Harbor home, which sits abandoned at 336 Hamilton Avenue, and his 1980 Ford Fairmont. Now, the only living heir to Poling's will is his 64-year-old niece Gloria Jean Johnson, who is blind and living on Social Security payments in Lancaster, Ohio. She too has never seen her share of the inheritance.
"I thought the lawyer was going to take care of it," Johnson said. "I didn't have money to go down there."
In interviews with the Times, Free has admitted he made a mistake handling the case.
Free said he sent letters to the heirs listed in Poling's will. He said he got no response from the heirs, and closed the file.
The Times tracked down Poling's relatives in Ohio within an hour based on information in the paperwork Free filed Friday morning, after a status conference before Judge George Greer.
In the hearing, Free said that in 1991 he received a letter from someone writing on behalf of one of the beneficiaries of the estate.
"I guess that got routed to the closed file," Free said. He did not return telephone messages left at his office and home afterward.
Friday afternoon, the paperwork Free submitted to the probate court was awaiting review by Greer.
Attorney Jack Geller, chairman of the Clearwater Bar's Client Relations Committee, who attended the hearing, said it's hard to predict what the outcome of the case will be.
"I've been practicing 30 years, and I've never seen this," Geller said. "It's sort of an unknown."