Court Error – Conflict of Interest

Listen to this article

WI Court of Appeals – District II

Case Name: Dennis Hoelzel v. Eleonora I. Hoelzel Revocable Trust

Case No.: 2015AP2311; 2016AP270

Officials: Neubauer, C.J., Reilly, P.J., and Hagedorn, J.

Focus: Court Error – Conflict of Interest

These consolidated appeals stem from an action for the closing of the Eleonora I. Hoelzel Revocable Trust (the Trust). Co-trustee Dennis Hoelzel1 appeals two orders. One order confirmed the appointment of the law firm of Block, Seymour, Chudacoff, Samson & Liebzeit, S.C. (Block Seymour), as attorneys for the Trust and ordered the Trust to pay Block Seymour’s attorneys’ fees. The second ordered that Dennis’s share of the Trust’s distribution, which would go to a trust established for his benefit (the Dennis Trust), should pay the fees for his attorney, and, if funds were insufficient, a mortgage would be placed against the real property distributed from the Trust to the Dennis Trust.

Dennis asserts that the Trust should not compensate Block Seymour for the entirety of its representation of the Trust because, he alleges, the firm initially represented his brother, Thomas Hoelzel, a beneficiary and the other co trustee, posing a conflict of interest. Dennis also contends the circuit court erred by ordering the Trust to pay his, Dennis’s, attorney’s fees from his share of the Trust and potentially awarding a mortgage against the real property the Trust would be distributing to the Dennis Trust. We disagree with Dennis and observe that the mortgage issue has become moot. We affirm the orders.

Full Text

Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.