Caryn B Keppler

My wife and I went to this attorney to update our wills and trusts. Her communication of basic information and choices was sub-standard. Without persistent questioning on my part we risked having a totally unacceptable outcome that would have left the surviving spouse with little or no control and o...ur beneficiaries subject to the constraints of a trustee. At our introductory meeting, Caryn presented two approaches. To maximize avoidance of NY State inheritance taxes, two trusts were needed, with a co-trustee required to comply with the law. Regarding beneficiaries, she proposed putting the bequests in beneficiary trusts, which she said would shield these assets from any potential creditors. No further information was provided about either of these proposals or possible alternatives. After we provided information about charitable and individual bequests, we were sent a draft to review and approve. In short, she did not present standard options and asked our preferences. She pre-emptively made decisions without informing us of basic alternatives. Here is what she did not tell us. With respect to a co-trusteeship, there was no disclosure about what constraints the survivor would be under. No explanation that co-trusteeship required mutual approval of “all financial actions,” as her associate attorney later informed us. Note: not Caryn! Regarding beneficiary trusts, no mention was made about their costs. No mention of constraints on the beneficiaries on access to or control over the assets. No mention that a trustee would have to manage these assets, file tax returns and otherwise have ongoing obligations. Only that these assets would be shielded from creditors. We had fifteen bequests to individuals. That would have been a lot of trusts and management. After being presented with a draft with minimum guidance over what to look for in the extensive legal language, I had to ferret out what she had not provided. Astonishingly, she had not voluntarily disclosed that two provisions could be added to our trusts that would grant the survivor considerable autonomy. Her associate(!) informed us that the survivor could be granted sole control over managing the asset investments. Then,, Caryn added that the survivor could withdraw without cotrustee approval a significant annual amount from the principal. Not even in an hour long conference call did Caryn tell us these provisions existed that optimized the survivor’s sole authority. Regarding the beneficiary trusts, all of the constraints on the beneficiaries and costly duties (time/money) of the trustees came out only on my questioning. Only then did she say, in effect, “Well, you can simply leave them the money outright if you want.” I had to engage in repeated and detailed questioning to get information about standard choices that should have been provided us at the outset. No draft should have been sent to us until we had reviewed these choices and made decisions. Given our preferences, once fully informed we made these decisions immediately. The needless back and forth added greatly to the billed time. The total charge was 50% over the estimate. I refused to pay and documented through the email chain the effort to get basic information. She never pushed back my claims about lack of timely volunteered information, effectively acknowledging them. I told her that failure to tell us about how the co-trustee’s authority could be mitigated “verged on negligence.” That no draft should have been sent to us without prior disclosure of standard options and our informed choice. I refused to pay the amount over the initial estimate. They offered a small concession. I rejected that and said I wanted to elevate this to a higher level in the firm. Ultimately, they agreed to accept the original estimated charge. There were also issues with billing. We did not get as promised a running monthly account of charges.