The Cole Trust Fiasco
The following horror story is all over the Cole Irrevocable Trust. It was originally written in 1996 by both my parents and amended in 2005 by my father Don Cole, sister Kristen Cole and brother Rodney Cole after my mother's death. The attorney who amended it was Con Lynch. He named himself as trust protector in the trust. Richard Cole, Kelley Plueard, and myself were unaware we were named in the trust until our father's death in 2011.
Donald Cole was in an accident June 17, 2011. He died due to complications of his injuries on October 8, 2011. At the time Rodney let it slip that we were on the trust so I requested a copy of the trust. He refused so I sent 2 certified letters requesting the trust. He then gave myself and Kelley a copy of the trust but refused one to Richard. Richard had suffered a debilitating stroke and his wife was his representative so Rodney felt she should not have a copy. Rodney had started logging the property in August of 2011. He paid some of the trust obligations and my father's funeral expenses. He then began to pay for his living expenses. He also lived in the trust house and continued to log the next year. We hired Thomas Crawford in the spring of 2012.
We hired Crawford on contingency. He stated that his fee was $200
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but the bar required him to charge $300 an hour because the monies would be worth less when he actually received them. He then advised us to appoint him as trust protector. We asked 3 different times if this was ethical. Crawford said that he had researched it and that it was ethical. He said as trust protector he could remove Rodney as trustee and appoint anyone else. When we appointed him as trust protector he removed Rodney and made Kristen the trustee. She then made Rodney her co trustee. At the time that Crawford took the position as trust protector we were told that Con Lynch hired a PLF attorney for himself. Rodney and Kristen hired Steve Mountainspring as their representation. Mountainspring sent a letter to Crawford stating that his clients were considering filing a bar complaint on Crawford because they felt he had acted unethically. Crawford then quit representing us and referred us to Charles Lee. Crawford tried to get another attorney to act as trust protector. That case, as far as we know, is still open and Crawford is still the trust protector although he is not acting as trust protector. We have been told that Crawford also hired a PLF attorney for himself. Crawford was asked by Deborah Cole for a restraining order against Rodney and Kristin more than once and he assured her he would do that for her. He never set it up. Rodney and Kristen then hired Terrance Kay as their representation. We had hired Greg Lusby after Charles Lee. Kay filed an IIED against us. He represented the trust and the trustees. He had refused to give any information even though the court compelled it. He had the trustees give some of the information that we had requested from them however, the bank statements omitted the month and the month after the IIED was filed. We believe that the trust paid for them to sue us. They claim it didn't but we have no proof either way and they had been using trust monies through logging trust property to fight us. We have still not received all of the trust information. Rodney and Kristen sent several load tickets 7 times so it looked like more but, was only a handful of what actually occured. Richard Cole passed away and Kay immediately demanded an autopsy be done on Richard. Kay also requested the medical records from the hospital and somehow he got them even thought the trust did not give them the right to that information. The week following Richard's death Kay tried to depose Deborah. She had leukemia at the time and died only months later. Kristen Cole, while Kay was representing her, then tried to set herself up as Richard Cole's representative of his estate. When she did this DHS began to investigate. She claimed that Justin Cole, Richard's son, was not caring for the estate and was stealing from DHS. As there was no money from the trust because of her and Rodney's actions this was completely false. Justin is in his 30's, more than old enough to be Richard's representative. She did this to pierce the veil of confidentiality with our attorney. Justin had contact with the DHS and the DOJ. They both claimed that there was money owed as an overpayment to Richard because there was money in the trust that was to be Richard's share. They both agreed it was Kristen and Rodney's fault and they had committed felonies but, put the bill on Justin because he was to inherit. We agreed to mediation after Richard's death. Judge Charles Luukinen was the mediator. Luukinen wanted to be the Czar of the trust and have full authority. He said that the ranch would be marketed to receive a fair price. He also said that he would negotiate the DHS bill down to 30% of its original amount. Greg Lusby was present for this mediation and stated that he remembered hearing this from Judge Luukinen. There was also put into the mediation that there was to be no more lawsuits. We all agreed to the mediation and the attorneys then hammered out the details. Just before it was all signed Rodney and Kristen refused to sign and Kay was no longer representing them. Rodney represnted them both for a brief time. They then hired Mark Holladay and they were both removed in court under Judge Barron as trustees. Judge Barron also upheld the mediation agreement. Judge Barron then appointed Ron Stitka as trustee.
Stitka immediately hired Bo Mulheim. During the first year after Stitka was named trustee he did very little. They claimed it was because Rodney and Kristen opposed Luukinen as mediation czar and refused the mediation. For the first year we were told that Bo Mulheim had amassed a bill of 49k. We have not seen the bill yet. We were also told by Mulheim that they did not have enough information on the trust to give us an accounting but, they would get all of the information and dig through to uncover what had been done. To date we still have no accounting. That was over a year ago and 2 years since they have taken
over. Judge Burge reinforced Judge Barron's ruling on the mediation and on Luukinen's authority. Luukinen gave a very bizarre ruling of his own on the behavior of the former trustees. There was $77k missing from the trust however, he deemed it too small to find and not enough to charge back to the former trustees. The ranch that was to be marketed was not and was sold to Guistina logging by Luukinen, Mulheim, and Stitka for $1.4 million. They gave us each a small portion of the amount of the sale holding the rest back for indemnity, taxes and fees. There was to be more distributed but, it was held for indemnity against Rodney and Kristin and they have refused multiple requests for the money. Rodney and Kristin filed another lawsuit naming our attorney Lusby, Luukinen, and Mulheim just before the ruling. It has since been dismissed but they refuse to give us further money. The trust house was also to be marketed and that has not happened. They had not notified us or our attorney to come remove things out of the house. We were told there was multiple emails but we received none. We found out by accident before they took and sold all of the personal property. As it was some of the property that had been requested by me was removed from the house to be sold. Stitka told his asset manager I had to buy them back with my own personal funds. Stitka has hired vendors out of Portland to clean out the house and sell assets. We had to travel to Portland to get some of my property. We live in Douglas County near where the trust property is located. That is a 3 hour drive for us. Heirloom firearms were held in Portland and we had the option to buy them back. They treat our heirlooms as if they are bankruptcy assets. Rodney and Kristen had hired Chris Cauble and subsequently Katie Hariguichi before Luukinens ruling. Cauble filed the lawsuit against Lusby, Luukinen, and Mulheim. They then filed another IIED against us. Cauble no longer works for them however, Hariguichi is still their attorney. She refuses communication with all parties although there is still litigation against us pending. We don't know the status of this litigation. To date, the house is still not marketed, some assets still not distributed and nothing is moving forward with no answers in sight. There are many more attorneys and judges from multiple counties involved that were not mentioned. This is just a brief overview of our situation. We are very frustrated and have little faith in Oregon's legal system. We are absolutely convinced it is not a justice system.
Doris Reed bought a house for $76,000.00 from Robert King. Mr. King and his real estate agent failed to disclose to Mrs. Reed that a murder had taken place in the home ten years ago. Neighbors told Mrs. Reed about the murders and the stigma associated with the house after she moved in. The property appraised in the amount of $65,000.00 with reference to the history of the house. Reed sued King on allegations of misrepresentation for the purchase of the home seeking rescission and damages to terminate the contact.
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