Joseph A. Knopp

Joe Knopp was the lawyer for my fathers trust. Joe's office accepted a "full power of attorney" document delivered to his office by the "trustee" without any attempt to ascertain the mental competence at the time it was signed on behalf of his client, my father. The document was obtained and deliver...ed to Joe's office by the "trustee" while my father was in the early stages of recovery from encephalitis and meningitis, still disoriented and hallucinating. The document was witnessed by a newly hired aide of the nursing home. When asked during a meeting whether it is ethical for his office to accept this document when it was delivered by someone other than his client Joe claimed no knowledge of the document. During the same meeting this document was found to be in the trust's file in Joe's office. Communications and reports for the trust received from Joe were poorly written, inaccurate, incomplete, lacked supporting documentation for amounts spent, contained spelling and grammatical errors and incomplete sentences. No actions were taken on behalf of the trust by Joe when the trustee mismanaged then attempted to sell herself property belonging to the trust at a below market price.