Sunday, December 5, 2010

The letter I did not send

put out there on May 19, 2010

Ok, I know that it might seem like I think everything is ALL ABOUT ME, but it really is not.

However, sometimes I see things and hear things and feel the need to add my two cents, just to show how some things do connect back to me.  If you have read some of my stuff here there is a strange connection to Saturday Night Live.

Two Saturdays ago Betty White was on the show.  In the sketch where she speaks to the census taker she explain how her name is pronounced in a strange way but is spelled S-M-I-T-H.  L-E-E  S-M-I-T-H.

So, who is Lee Smith?  He is the attorney who was the Trustee of my Dad's Decedent's Trust and my cousins and I had to get ANOTHER attorney to FORCE him to step aside.  I guess you could say he is close to, but not exactly, number one on my shit list.  I knew he would f*ck me up.  Apparently, on some level he blames my sister, but I refuse to accept I have to suffer because my sister is screwing everything up.

Here is a letter I wrote, but did not send, after I had a very bad conversation with him last October:


October 27, 2009

Lee Smith
501 S. Beverly Dr.
3rd Floor
Beverly Hills, CA 90212

Dear Mr. Smith,

This letter is a written summary of my position in regard to your handling of the 1991 Tobias Family Trust and other legal matters that have been brought to my attention.   I request that this letter be placed in the file that your office is maintaining.

Although my sister Leora is not always a reliable source of information, she has now told me on at least two occasions that the two of you discussed “conservatorship” of my finances.  I am appalled.  It is inconceivable to me that the two of you could consider colluding against me before you even attempt to act in my best interest.  I understand that the “conservatorship” concept must be very much in vogue with the Beverly Hills Law boutiques in light of the recent events in Britney Spear's life.  I am unequivocally stating here that I am not Britney Spears and I am perplexed that you or your law firm would even consider treating me as though I am Britney Spears.  I certainly hope for your sake that Leora has been making this story up out of “whole cloth.”  Rather than exploring the possibilities of “conservatorship” you should be considering the implications of not performing your duties for an indigent beneficiary.

It is my position that you should have been distributing funds to me under the terms of the trust, specifically Article 11 Benefits for Child(ren) since the death of Theodore Tobias (Survivor).  Specifically, income from October 2009 from the Metro Center.  You should not be waiting for my sister to turn 50 years of age and then distribute monies to her.  I am under the impression now that you might be working to her benefit over mine without cause.  This would be a mistake.  I have also not received any indication of exactly what assets currently exist within the Tobias Family Trust as of the date of my Dad's death, September 11, 2009.

My position is you have not been performing your fiduciary duty to me as Trustee.  I had informed you of my situation on the phone and in my previous letter.  You should have my interests, and the other beneficiaries interests first, especially because I have told you I am indigent and will be depending on this income to pay off many outstanding debts.  You have not yet indicated you are able to assist me in this area at all.  You have not even offered to loan me some monies to help keep me out of jail which would be consistent with Article 13 of the Trust Agreement.  You have repeatedly told me that just about everyone else is entitled to income from the Trust.  That you have, as I recall you saying yesterday, paid Trust funds to yourself, the Rabbi, the Cantor and other bills as they come up instead of keeping my interests in mind to be a violation of the Trust agreement.  I cannot imagine that will sound good in a court of law.  I understand I have been completely excluded from my Dad's estate.  Therefore, what you do with estate funds, if any exist, is not my concern.

Once again, to make my position perfectly clear, it is not the Trust Agreement I take issue with.  It is your handling of it that I take issue with.

It is also my position that I have had difficulty getting all the documents from you and your firm in a timely manner and you have not made any reports to me as required by the Trust Agreement.  I have only heard “consistent rumors” about what the percentage distributions from the Metro Center Property income are supposed to be.  What I refer to as the “6/22/22” arrangement.  You, and your office, have not furnished me with any printed copies of what my Dad's specific wishes were for income from Metro Center property.  I wonder why you and your office has chosen to keep me uninformed, especially since my Dad passed away almost six weeks ago.

That I had to inform you that, to the best of my knowledge, a bench warrant has been issued against me because I have been unable to pay the State of California for overdue tickets incurred as I lived in my car and waited for my Dad to die is unconscionable on your part.  The very least a Trustee should do is make sure Beneficiaries do not get thrown into jail because they have withheld funds without cause.

You have not shown much regard to my situation; in fact your behavior so far can only be interpreted as hostile to my interests.  Selling off the Metro Center Property because you are unwilling or unable to disperse income to the Beneficiaries is clearly a deficiency on your part.  Selling the property or allowing the owner to exercise the “sweetheart clause” is clearly not in my interest either.  It seems to me you have Anne Barry's interest, whom I wish to add at this time is substantially more wealthy than I am and not a Beneficiary of the Trust, closer to your heart than mine.  Again, I wish to state here that I am appalled by your behavior.  Anne Barry has never shown herself to be sympathetic to my interests and I believe you and your office should assume she is hostile to my interests.  You should be defending my interests against the plans Anne Barry has for the property; my clear recollection is she never allowed my Dad any additional income share for the work he performed on behalf of the Metro Center Property.  She was also unwilling to assist the partnership to buy the property outright, when she was able to do so, which would eliminate the uncertainty associated with the current Master Tenant/Owner situation.  I sense this is coming down to who has more money, or am I wrong here?

According to the Trust document you are able to opt out of this Trust agreement by your own choice.  I believe you should consider doing so right away unless you are willing to fulfill your obligations under the Trust agreement and all it's amendments.

As stated in our phone call on Monday October 26, 2009, my position is you have had the ability to assist me in paying off the overdue bills to the State of California and have not done so.  If I am arrested and extradited I promise I will sue you.   If you wish to turn around and sue Anne Barry, that of course would be your choice.

If you have any questions about my positions on any of the above topics, please feel free call me. You do know how to reach me, right?

Sincerely,




Benjamin Howard Tobias

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