Stephen Ernest Penner

It has been over 10 years since I last interacted with Steve, so I hope you'll take my thoughts from such a distance seriously. My father, an army colonel and former commander of MOWW (of which Steve is a member) had used Steve's services throughout his life, as he trusted Steve as a fromer JAG an...d fellow MOWW member to treat him fairly. Steve did that -- until my father died. The day after my father died I called Steve to just advise that my father was gone. My father had a Trust, so I wasn't calling for legal support. At first Steve was so indifferent I wondered if he recalled my father and me. I had to identify myself again before Steve said "Oh, Jim! I'm sorry". Clearly he didn't know who I was talking about -- which would have been a big surprise to my father -- It certainly was to me. His empathy was minimal. Fast forward: rather than telling me I did not need his help as there was a Trust, he insisted that I DID (as successor trustee) need his help. He required a $20,000 retainer for services. I was not, in that moment, fully present as I had to plan two funerals (one in Goleta and one in Akron, Ohio) with a lot of logistics and planning for those. I trusted Steve that he was correct that I needed to spend so much money to take care of my father's estate. My father absolutely trusted Steve, so I did too. Not a great idea. The Trust was very clear and concise about what my father wanted with regard to distributio of assets, his burial and so on. My brothers, unfortunately, became very problematic during the process of distribution, etc. Steve, rather than telling me that they had no standing as I was the successor trustee to a legitimate Trust and need oln ly tell them that they had to abide by its instructions, turned instead to contesting their claims against me. The brothers, in response, hired an attorney to contest Steve's contestation. Tens of thousands of dollars were spent needlessly. The many details are too much to list here. Bottom line -- you need an attorney who's going to be honest with you. Who is NOT going to look at THEIR bottom line and advise you wih only that in mind. I ended up having to pay Steve in excess of $40,000. All I wanted was a "sorry for your loss" when I first called him. Don't let your emotions in the moment overwhelm your clear common sense otherwise. As I said, it's now been over 10 years since I hired Steve. I hop my perspective is helpful.