Guardianship of Helen M. O?Grady In the Circuit Court of the 15th Judicial Circuit, In and For Palm Beach County Probate Division Case No.: 502012GA000016XX Case No.: Judge: Rosemarie Scher Judge: Martz Judge: Martin Colin Judge: Edward A Garrison I MAW BRANCH OFFICE 2013 FEB 15 203 ruary 1, SHARON CL . Prim ?5 ?Ragga To Your Honorable Judge Garrison, BEACH COUNTY I am OBJECTING to the ?nal petition for payment of Emergency temporary Guardian?s Attorney Fees and Costs from May 14, 2012 through January 11, 2013 in the Helen O?Grady Guardianship matter for the additional amount of $10,345.23 as per Mr. Clifford B. Harks bill. Mr. Hark had submitted a bill for $28,011.13 and it was paid. These additional fees are unreasonable for a variety of reasons: I The Af?davit of Reasonable Attomey?s Fees and Cost ?led by Clifford B. Hark, states that he is serving as the attorney for the Emergency Temporary Guardian of Property, Thomas Mayes, in the Guardianship of Helen M. O?Grady proceedings. While this was true that Mr. Hark was hired to represent Thomas Mayes as an expert. Mr. Hark was to have my brother Thomas Mayes who was caring for my mother for two and a half years continue in the capacity as Guardian of Self and Property to my late mother, Helen O?Grady. Mr. Hark however lost that case in March 2012. We were given a court appointed Guardian. II Mr. Hark did bill an extra $4,200 of unused time on his original bill to complete the guardianship matters. As I recall, the Honorable Judge Sher mentioned for Mr. Hark not to drag this out and incur unnecessary costs upon the estate. I believe most of these fees are unnecessary on the second bill. My brother Thomas Mayes also put Mr. Hark on notice that upon my mother?s death he had retained Probate attorneys to handle the estate. - To me, Mr. Hark has not shown the abilities to actually save time. In reviewing the bills, I noticed a great amount of time was billed for preparing the bill. It seems to me that it shouldn?t cost thousands of dollars to write a bill. Why is he writing the bill why isn?t his assistant? I also notice he seems to be overlapping with the Guardians duties and the Probate attomey?s duties. I am not sure that we need to pay the Guardian, her attorney, the probate attorney and Mr. Hark all for the same thing. He also seems to be billing for errors made in his ?rst bill? I thought he was an expert in his ?eld to be able to save the estate time and money? The Guardian Ms. Savitt told us she would object to Mr. Harks original bill and ask him to reduce his bill since it was above and beyond reasonable. However, she did not object in court when it was presented. At $350 an hour for Mr. Hark, I took her for her word. 0 Mr. Hark stated he too would ask Ms. Savitt to reduce her bill since it too was above and beyond reasonable. She Mergedher hours billed with that of my brother who actually performed the work. Mr. Hark has shared one of Ms. Savitt?s bill which totaled $6,000 for one month of service, but can?t seem to provide us with the rest of her bills at $75 an hour and she doesn?t do anything with out her attorney which bills at $325 an hour. Is it a big secret or just can?t get the task done? Again, is this fair and reasonable? 0 Mr. Hark still has yet to ?nalize this case. Thomas Mayes has not been paid for his out of pocket expenses as Guardian for my mother from over a year ago. I also understand Thomas Mayes reduced his bill at the request of Mr. Hark and Ms. Savitt. So the bill presented isn?t even for what is owed to Thomas Mayes who doesn?t even get near the amount of anyone else yet he did the most important work of all. Mr. Hark has yet to reimburse Stephanie Chambers who had $708.68 and myself who had $1901.07 in travel expenses to appear in court and have our say, which I might add never, occurred. The courts ran out of time. The judge apologized. Mr. Hark keeps giving excuses as to why he can?t get the checks written. Is this an oversight on his expertise to get the job done? I am attaching a summary of expenses and ask the courts to rule on them. Mr. Hark or Ms. Savitt has all the original receipts. The Judge asked us to appear. 0 Now Ms. Savitt has been paid and Mr. Hark has been paid. Mr. Lee my mother?s court appointed attorney was paid. The court appointed doctors have all been paid. Why can?t the rest of us get paid? 0 My mother Helen O?Grady did not bene?t from having a court appointed guardian. My mother?s doctors had already established that my mother had numerous medical issues along with dementia and Alzheimer?s. I simply do not understand how the courts could continue to mount astronomical amounts of additional doctors that pretty much said the same thing. Why was this allowed to happen? Was it because 1 have two brothers who are ?Not of Right Mind?? and knew how to tie this up in court? There is simply something wrong with putting my mother and the rest of the family through all of this. There was no evidence that Thomas Mayes had done anything wrong. This was duly noted by the Honorable Judge Scher and again emphasized by Mr. Hark and I do believe he was paid above and beyond for his efforts. I do not deny Mr. Hark a reasonable amount of money but $350 an hour is above the national average as a guardian attorney. My mother was a teacher who raised ?ve children on a salary that was less than what Mr. Hark has already been paid. Mr. Hark has also been paid more than I make in a year and I teach 520 children a week for the public schools. 4- Only my two brothers who my mother supported bene?ted from having my brother Thomas Mayes removed as Guardian and Power of Attorney due to a personal vendetta. My alcoholic brother Daniel Mayes gets to continue to live in my mothers house while the Court appointed Guardian pays the utility bills and my brother Ronald Mayes who has already pilfered over a million dollars and isn?t even named as a bene?ciary in my mother?s latest two Wills and has already spent his inheritance and some. He gets to drag this out without spending any of his money but racks up costs against the estate. There is something to be said about justice. We are losing what our mother wanted us to have. Once again, Please do not allow my dearly departed mother to have to continue to pay for a vendetta my brother?s had against Tom. It isn?t right. There is no justice in it. This needs to end. We?ve already Spent over $100,000 on the Guardianship case. I know the probate costs are over $50,000 against the estate as of this writing. 15 this fair? Is this reasonable? Thank you for your time and consideration of my Objection. Also, for letting me know yesterday by mail that you have been assigned to reside over my mother?s estate matters. It was very much appreciated. Respectfully yours, Kathleen Osterbuhr 1300 Cresthill Derby, Ks 67037 316-516-0459 we 00% S, ?00? Wagon? )er?b kaS (07037 sue-"Y wast Expenses Kathleen Kelsi Airline Ticket $605.20 $475.20 Rental Car $244.17 Gas 37.76 Meals $143.23 78.38 Tips~BaggagelTolls 14.00 Misc 63.18 lotals 1108.54 $548.18 Florida Expenses to appear in for the Court Hearing March 28, 2012 Grandma would normally cover Kelsi?s airline ticket with a little spending money for her to come down to visit. Personally I, [as a parent] feel i wouldn?t ofhad any expenses for Kelsi (a minor child] ifl wasn't present in Florida for the court hearing. I did separate expenses, so whatever you decide works for me Expenses Kathleen Stephanie Airline Ticket $649.20 $343.20 Rental Car $213.27 Gas 30.00 Meals $131.05 115.21 Tips-Baggagel'l'olls 7.00 7.00 Misc 5.28 Totals 792.53 $708.68 Florida Expenses to appear in for the Court Hearing March 8, 2012