| ► Attorney Douglas Delaney of Bluffton, SC; ethical leprechaun |
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Attorney Douglas Delaney of Bluffton, SC; ethical leprechaun 
The state of South Carolina presented Douglas S. Delaney with a law license in 1995 after he graduated from the University of South Carolina Law School.
The Office of Disciplinary Counsel of the South Carolina Supreme Court recently charged Douglas with misconduct in connection with a multimillion dollar estate that he managed as follows.
Douglas failed to disclose conflicts of interest in his handling of a $7.5 million life insurance policy.
Douglas was hired to represent the estate of Grey Geissler which included several million in assets, including cash, securities and real estate holdings from her late husband. An initial trust was structured to allow Ms. Geissler to collect dividends and capitol gains of about $65,000 a year to live on.
After Ms. Geissler hired Douglas in 2005, he created a complex estate plan composed of a revocable trust, several limited liability companies, two irrevocable trusts and a charitable lead annuity. Assets worth $2.5 million were ultimately replaced with 20-year promissory notes paying 4% interest.
Douglas then bought a $7.5 million life insurance policy from his brother in Ms. Geissler’s name. Douglas ultimately paid his brother, who was a licensed insurance agent, a $300,00 consultant’s fee for the police. Documents allege that Douglas’ brother then gave or loaned $140,000 to a company owned by Douglas’ wife – an obvious conflict of interest and did so without receive written permission to so act from Ms. Geissler.
Ms. Geissler fired Douglas 18 months after she hired him, and documentary evidence shows he refused to provide her new attorney with an accounting of her trusts.
Shortly after being fired, Douglas made a $642,750 payment on the life insurance policy with Ms. Geissler’s funds despite a court order that prohibited from exercising any power over her trusts. The court later fined Douglas $44,244 for violating a court order.
All that’s left now is for the South Carolina Supreme Court to determine the punishment, if any, that it will mete out to Douglas. Given its record of acting as apologists for Attorney Misfits, Douglas doesn’t have much to worry about. At worst, he’ll likely receive a complimentary reprimand.
As we speak (ca. April 2013), Douglas practices at 298 Moss Creek Village in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.
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