The headquarters of Redstone Construction Group, which was led by Michael Lasiter (inset), on West Dixon Road in Little Rock.
Mutual accusations of money-grubbing provide common ground in the courtroom wrangling over the estate of Michael Lasiter, owner of RedStone Construction Group of Little Rock.
Estimated at about $50 million in court filings, the estate is linked with several separate Pulaski County Circuit Court cases related to disputes between Richard Newland Jr. and Lasiter’s widow, Caroline.
Newland, the Little Rock attorney, CPA and financial adviser, provided a one-stop shop for a variety of services now under scrutiny in the estate battle.
While Newland is contending with allegations of professional malpractice, breach of fiduciary duty and conflicts of interests, Caroline Lasiter is grappling with allegations of trying to undo the final wishes of her husband to the detriment of other heirs.
An upcoming summary judgment hearing on Jan. 17 before Judge Wendell Griffen will delve into two issues that could have important consequences for the two adversaries.
Newland & Associates could be removed as trustee of the Michael Allen Lasiter Revocable Trust and the MAL Irrevocable Insurance Trust, which contain most of the estate’s assets.
Caroline Lasiter could be removed as a beneficiary of her husband’s estate planning for contesting provisions of the trusts he set up for her, their two minor children and his two adult children.
Newland’s April lawsuit against Caroline Lasiter alleges that she violated the no-contest provisions of the two trusts. If the court determines she did, Newland is moving to not only cut her off as a future beneficiary but to recoup upwards of $4.5 million in assets already distributed to her.
In turn, Caroline Lasiter filed a counterclaim to remove Newland & Associates as trustee of the trusts. The January hearing also will consider her arguments that a law firm can’t serve as a trustee under Arkansas law unless it does so as part of the practice of law such as administering a trust fund account for a legal client.
Her position: The two trusts set up by Michael Lasiter are not part of the law practice of Newland & Associates. While a lawyer or any other individual can be a trustee in this case, a law firm cannot.
Caroline Lasiter recently landed a favorable ruling in her lawsuit against Newland, filed in August 2017, 15 months after the death of her husband. In her Oct. 22 ruling, Judge Alice Gray determined that Newland provided estate planning and financial planning to both Caroline and Michael Lasiter. Newland had claimed that Michael Lasiter was his client and that attorney-client privilege prevented him from turning over documents Caroline Lasiter requested.
Gray ordered Newland to turn over the documents Caroline Lasiter requested. However, before the 10-day deadline for compliance expired, Newland started the paperwork to appeal the decision to the Arkansas Supreme Court.
If Gray’s ruling stands, it supports Caroline Lasiter’s claims that Newland also did planning work for her and owed her a fiduciary duty that wasn’t always met. She alleges that he breached that duty by not always looking out for her interests and aprising her of the consequences of estate planning changes.
Among her grievances are reactivating a premarital agreement and shifting assets that would’ve gone directly to her to instead be tied up in trusts administered by Newland & Associates.
Caroline Lasiter also has claims the Newland & Associates documents are her late husband’s personal property, which she inherited under the terms of his will.
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