Estate Of Grace

The Indiana Supreme Court imposed a partially-stayed suspension and probation for misconduct in two estate matters

We find that Respondent, Christopher Phillips, engaged in attorney misconduct by, among other things, charging unreasonable fees in estate matters and mismanaging his attorney trust account. For this misconduct, we agree with the parties that Respondent should be suspended from the practice of law for 180 days, with 120 days actively served and the balance stayed subject to successful completion of at least three years of probation with monitoring by a certified public accountant.

Misconduct and mitigation

Respondent’s misconduct was serious in numerous respects. He charged grossly disproportionate fees in both estate matters, did not adequately communicate with his clients regarding the basis for the fees, and lied to Client 2 when asked to explain the additional 40% he skimmed from the Richardson Estate. Respondent’s lack of diligence in both cases  compounded the unreasonableness of the fees he charged. And throughout all of this, his shoddy bookkeeping left him unable to properly account for disbursements made from his attorney trust account. Respondent’s dishonesty and selfish motives, the duration of his misconduct, and the multiple people harmed by his misconduct, are all aggravating factors.

But several mitigating factors also inform our consideration of an appropriate sanction. Respondent has no prior discipline; he has completed the Indiana Continuing Legal Education Forum’s Trust Account School during the pendency of these disciplinary proceedings; and perhaps most importantly, he has taken substantial steps to make his aggrieved clients whole. Specifically, in Count 1 he paid the outstanding funeral home debt with his own funds, repaid $100,000 to Client 1, and signed his personal vehicle—valued at approximately $85,000—over to Client 1; and Respondent similarly settled Client 2’s lawsuit against him.

The parties point us to Matter of Keckley, 254 N.E.3d 1062 (Ind. 2025), in which the attorney took similar remediative steps on behalf of a decedent’s heirs in the wake of dishonest misconduct. We approved an agreed 120-day suspension in Keckley, and we conclude the same period of active suspension is appropriate here. Further, we conclude the parties’ agreed probationary terms are warranted to address Respondent’s trust account mismanagement and guard against a recurrence.

(Mike Frisch)