A SOLICITOR has been ordered by the High Court to pay out the bulk of €975,000 from the estate of a former client, who died in 2002, following complaints from beneficiaries about delays in receiving the money.
Mr Justice Richard Johnson, the president of the High Court, said the money should be paid out this week regardless of pending legal proceedings involving the solicitor and the Law Society.
The solicitor, John F Condon of McMahon and Tweedy, Ormond Quay, Dublin, was alleged not to have sufficiently administered the estate of the deceased client, Shane Murphy SC, for the Law Society, told the court yesterday.
Mr Condon was invited by the society’s complaints and client relations committee to explain why the estate had not been sufficiently administered, counsel said. The society later brought proceedings against Mr Condon who separately issued judicial review proceedings against the society.
Those cases are still pending before the High Court but it was the society’s view the money involved in the estate should be immediately distributed to the five beneficiaries, Mr Murphy said.
The main part of the estate was a property which was sold in July 2007 for €975,000, Mr Murphy said. There was no good reason the money should not be distributed and complaints had been made against Mr Condon in 2005 and 2007, he added.
Robert Haughton SC, for Mr Condon, said cheques for €188,000 were available to be paid to three of the beneficiaries while the amount due to the other two may be slightly less because of an outstanding tax liability.
Daniel Simms, for the beneficiaries, said they were anxious the money be paid out as soon as possible.
Mr Justice Johnson said the bulk of the money is to be lodged with the Law Society by the end of the week with the exception of some €50,000 relating to tax matters. He adjourned the matter to the end of the month.
Meanwhile, in a separate case involving a solicitor who claimed he was given a disproportionate penalty for dishonesty, the judge directed that solicitor Laurence O’Connor may practise for the next five years only under the supervision of another solicitor.
Mr O’Connor, whose practice is in Salthill, Galway, had challenged as disproportionate a decision by the Law Society Disciplinary Tribunal requiring him to practise under another solicitor for a 10-year period.