My three-year ordeal with PJI Law in Fairfax, Virginia, serves as both a warning and a guide for anyone seeking estate or health care planning services. I also share four recommendations to help others avoid risks it took me three years to uncover.
Despite my 83-year-old mother signing a contract promising her customized legal documents, PJI Law delivered standard boilerplate documents with minor changes, leaving both her estate and medical care highly vulnerable in eight critical areas I outlined below. The estate attorney ill advised us to ignore rather than correct non-applicable sections in her Trust which would have granted powers far beyond what was requested or necessary for her estate.
I submitted revisions to correct these issues, but the firm refused both the revisions and completion of her Trust, acknowledging in writing that this could place her estate at risk of probate.
I strongly questioned the firm's professional and ethical integrity--for decisions that put my elderly mother's estate at risk of probate and their attempt to silence me. Despite my delivering a formal copyright notice for customized revisions for all her documents completed over three years, PJI Law refused to delete my copyrighted material without a signed release--barring me from exposing these risks and warning others. This wasn't just work--it was God given work to honor my mother.
I share a small portion of my findings.
PJI Law's Trust document appeared to favor Trustees over her interests:
1. Authorized self-dealing despite state law restriction--compromised her Christian values.
2. Limited Trustees' liability, excusing errors or mistakes regarding the law unless done in "bad faith"--potential for financial mismanagement.
3. Authorized Trustees to spend estate funds for their legal defense for "any claim" to the point of exhausting the trust, unless done in "bad faith"--risk of estate depletion.
PJI Law's Trust document also contradicted my mother's stated goal of authorizing limited powers:
1. Authorized Trustees to invest, loan, and borrow despite her prohibiting such broad, unnecessary powers--potential for financial exploitation.
2. Authorized Trustees to acquire, manage, and exploit oil, gas, or mineral rights despite her not owning nor requesting such investments--potential for unnecessary, volatile investment risk.
3. Authorized Trustees to pay any beneficiary's tuition or funeral expenses despite her prohibiting such financial support--potential for financial mismanagement.
PJI Law's Health Care documents were even more concerning:
1. PJI Law authorized itself to determine my mother's capacity and decide whether a conservatorship or guardianship was necessary for her--without her knowledge, request, or consent.
2. PJI Law authorized her Health Care Agent to donate her body at the Agent's discretion and for any purpose, including for medical research--without her knowledge, request, or consent.
My Advice to Protect Your Estate and Health Care Plans
1. Review every section of your documents, even though long (her documents were 150+ pages) and contain legal language.
2. Consider AI tools like ChatGPT to help explain complex legal language, flag potential risks, and identify protective measures, but use with caution and skill to ensure guidance and content align with estate law in your state.
3. Revise documents to meet goals:
* Ensure the Trust grants authority only necessary to achieve goals, reflects appropriate liability for Trustees, and excludes sections that conflict with state law, are non-applicable, or contradict your goals.
* Ensure health care documents list only approved individuals,
do not grant authority to donate your body or organs without your consent, and include protective measures against elder abuse.
4. If a firm refuses to make justified revisions included in your
contract, you may file in small claims court for breach of contract. Generally, an attorney is not needed and it provides a relatively quick resolution. Some firms settle out of court to avoid negative publicity. read more
