Hughes Estate Group Attorneys Craig E HughesCraig Hughes, Attorney Took $15,000, then lost another $83,000 of my inheritance by bungling estate case Salt Lake City Utah

The estate did pay Hughes a retainer to start the case. Judge judkins froze the assets of the estate. Hughes asked  to borrow money he stated he would pay back. The amount of $15,000 was paid in increments of $5,000 each month affter the funds were frozen by the Court and Hughes Estate group was not to be paid. This was the instruction the the First District Court.

I challenge Hughes Estate Group to tell the truth.  Bearsnon and Peck were hired by me to protect me from this estate attorney.

Please publish the retainer fees now Hughes. The date I signed it, the amount the retainer was for. How many retainer fees did you sock us for? Why would you ask for a retianer fee after the Court ordered you not to be paid?

Please address these facts: 

1.  What was the Estate of Lowell Carlsen worth when you were hired?

2.  How much did you charge the Estate in fees?

3. What did you charge me as an Executor of that Estate? This was completely forbidden in the Estate papers signed by my father.

Why did you disobey the instruction and wishes of my father when in fact hr msde it very implicit the Executor was not to pay funds to an attorney, only funds from the esttae were to be used.

4.  Why are you not telling the truth about therse borrowed funds?

5. If you won the case Hughes, then give the breakdown of the funds that were disursed

a. what was the final dollar amout that you were paid.

b. what amount did each of the brothers receive at setrtlement? What did I receive, miunsu your "fees."

c .why would you disobey the instruction of the trust?

d.why die Bearnson and peck have to get involved?

e. after you did your lawerly thing, expalin how I won? Be truthful now.

f. Who in their right mind would become an executor of any estate if he or she was required to pay attorney fees?????? Get real, tell the truth, do the right thing.

Hello my name is Craig Hughes I have been subjected to ugly accusations by a former client of mine named Kent Carlsen. I would like to respond.

First, what Mr. Carlsen accuses me of doing (borrowing $15,000 from him and refusing to pay him back) would have been illegal, and could have caused my disbarment. Of course, I have not been disbarred.

Mr. Carlsen paid my firm a $15,000 retainer for me and my assistants to spend many hours representing him as the trustee of his father’s trust.  He calls this a loan I refused to repay. Again, this would be illegal, but that is how Mr. Carlsen wants to describe what happened.

I have a question for anyone who has ever paid a downpayment for a car or who has paid a retainer to hire an attorney. Did you think the downpayment for the car was a loan to the car company that they would repay you? Did you think the retainer to an attorney to work for you was a loan to the attorney he would repay you? Of course not. But that is what Mr. Carlsen thinks a retainer is.

The Utah State Bar has found absolutely no wrong doing on my part in asking my client for a simple retainer. Further, to the best of my knowledge, Mr. Carlsen hired attorneys to apparently go after me about this alleged "loan," but these attorneys did not waste a minute even contacting me about Mr. Carlsen’s complaint–because they certainly knew the difference between a retainer and a loan.

I think Mr. Carlsen misunderstands what a retainer is. I have the original agreement signed by Mr. Carlsen in which he agreed to pay me a retainer. That retainer ended up being $15,000. I explained to Mr. Carlsen that as the trustee of his father’s trust, he could reimburse himself from his father's trust funds for the amount of the retainer he personally paid me. He seems confused by this explanation, thinking that he was loaning me $15,000. He obviously does not understand a retainer or his right to be reimbursed from trust funds as the trustee for personal funds he paid to retain me.

Mr. Carlsen further does not understand that by Utah law, a trustee can in fact use trust funds to pay for the trustee’s attorney. To this end, the court of course found nothing wrong with his father’s trust funds being used to pay me to represent Mr. Carlsen as the trustee.

Further, it is common in many cases for a judge to freeze payments until the end of a case. The important point here is that the Chief Justice of the First District Court, Thomas Wilmore, approved my final fees, in a formal agreement signed by Mr. Carlsen!

Further, our handling of the case was successful in that we were able to keep Mr. Carlsen acting as Trustee (despite endless attempts by his brothers to remove him) until he finally and successfully completed his duties under our supervision and direction.

If you would like to read the actual case pleadings and agreements, go to www.Utahcourts.gov. The case is titled "In re Estate of Carlsen." It was tried in 2006-2007 in the first District Court of Utah in Logan Utah. The case number is 073100007. You can access all the pleadings and the final agreement. Whatever other lies Mr. Carlsen wishes to perpetrate (taking things out of context or twisting the facts), you can read for yourself the final agreement, which Mr. Carlsen signed, agreeing to my fees.

On a positive note, I have successfully represented over a thousand clients in court and in their estate planning. Other than the strange and unfounded complaint by Mr. Carlsen, we have had no complaints, not one. If you would like to know more about our practice and how we can help you, please click on www.estate-essentials.com.

Amy, you know that Criag borrowed $15,000.  You know that Judge Judkins issued a Court order to stop payment to your Law Firm. You should know the Law Firm I had to hire (Bearnson and Peck) wrote a letter to Craig stating how unethical it was for him to ask for money from the Trustee when the Trust itself specifically states that the Trustee (me) is not responsible for any Attorey's fees.  This is stated in the Trust.

I have the returned checks that Hughes Estate Group cashed.

If I won, tell the readership how much was disbusred to each heir.  Then explain how I could anyone could truthfully and ethically state "we won".

It was because of the Law Firm in Logan that I hired (to protect me) from Hughes unethical behavior of borrowing money from me. It was this Law Firm that brought this to mediation.

Now, after a settlement was made, why would Hughes ask for the rest of the very little inheritance I received. 

Your statement "we won" is correct in the fact that Hughes Estate Group were the only benefactores from this Estate. Why would Hughes aks for money from the Trustee when in fact, it went against the direct wishes of my father?  This is in the actual Estate documents.

I look forwrd to an honest an ethical response.

Celeste, please get your facts straight.  Craig borrowed $15,000 from me. He did so by disobeying the intructions on the very Trust he was "representing".  I have the checks and the actual Trust that prove Craig Hughes illegally and unethically borrowed $15,000 from me with the promise to pay me back.

Judge Judkins was dismayed by the amount the Hughes Estate Group was charging the Trust. Hughes was draining the very inheritiance he was suppost to protect. Judge Judkins issued an Order stating the Hughes was not to be paid anymore, and told him to continue representation without being paid.

I had to hire the Law Firm out of Logan to protect me from Craig Hughes. Hughes knows what he did was wrong. It was the Law Firm I hired that finally was able to get mediation (and the fact that I refused to give Hughes another $5,000 check.)

Remember, the Trust speicifcally stated the Trustee (me) was in no way to pay for any Lawyer services with regard to this Trust.

Shame on you. 

I worked with Craig extensively while he was representing King Carlsen in a litigation case. Craig or the Firm never borrowed $97,000 dollars from Kent, his comments are untrue. Kent approved everything Craig did. It was very difficult and expensive fighting Kent's brothers who challenged every move Kent made as the Personal Representative for the Estate. There were numerous nights Amy, Craig, and I stayed late preparing documents and copies of documents for court. In the end, our work actually protected Kent. We won this case for him. His accusations are simply unfair and untrue.

My name is Amy.  I did not want to put my name online as everything is so public online.  I used the name Grace.  It is important that the truth is told, so I will again say my name is Amy.  I will not use my last name and I will not use the client's name out of respect to the client.  I have worked for Craig over 19 years and was employed during the time we represented the client giving this review.  I would be glad to talk to anyone who has a concern with what our client has written.  Our number is 801.364.5600.  What this client is saying is unethical.  An honest attorney would never borrow money from a client ever.  This is and never will be our practice.  We ask for retainers and then give detailed accountings to the clients regarding how each dollar was spent.  We have each invoice we sent to our client.  At the end of the case during the negotiations, we wrote off a lot of our work to help expedite a final mediation agreement between all the family members.  Again, I would be glad to answer anyone's questions including our client.  Again our number is 801.364.5600.

I do not know a "Grace" This is a desperate atttempt from Craig Hughes himself.  Hughes, why is there a stipulation in the trust itself that specifically states.." all attorney fees along with any others fees must come from the trust funds"  So Craig Hughes, by asking the Trustee to pay for your "services" you have violated the very trust you were hired to defend. Stop being so dishonest. Do the right thing, stop using bogus names to review your services on AVVO along with this site.  What are you going to tell the Utah Bar Association with regard to making up employee names? Who is "Grace" how does she know me if I don't know who she is? Why would you use a made up employee name?

Hughes owes us $15,000. He knows it, his clerks know it.  It is unfortunate, but Hughes threatening and improper e-mails were disgusting at best.  Hughes, DO CHOOSE the right........

I had to hie an Attorney to represent me to stop Hughes from soaking me.  This Attorney was absolutley appalled by Hughes asking me for money...it just isn't done.

We have the letter sent to Hughes too.   This letter stopped Hughes in his tracks.

I have the $15,000 in canceled checks written to Craig Hughesa.  The Judge stopped payments from the estate to Hughes bbecause of gross negligence. He promised to pay us back, be he di not.   Cost to the estate and heirs are over $97,000 not including time lost and money wasted

The statements about Hughes Estate Group are not true. I have worked for Hughes Estate Group for over 19 years.  I was working for Hughes Estate Group when the client making this report was a client of Hughes Estate Group.  I know the client personally.  I am personally aware of the contract that was signed between the client and Hughes Estate Group and the details of the case.  We asked for retainers at various points in the client's litigation case.   We were very clear about costs and reported regularly to the client regarding how we spent our time on behalf of the client.  It really was an ugly case where all the family members were fighting each other which increased litigation costs and lessened each beneficiaries inheritance in the end.  At the end of the case, the judge reviewed all distributions including our invoices at the end of the case and set the final amount the attorneys and beneficiaries received.  In the end, we were glad to help the client win the client's case.  We have been surprised at finding negative reviews regarding our services for this client popping up on various websites.  We have reached out (since finding negative reviews on a couple of websites) to the client personally regarding the client's concerns.  We have received negative responses from the client with additional negative reviews popping up on various websites.  We invite anyone with concerns about this report to call us directly and we would be glad to answer any questions you might have about our company.  Thank you.