The children of a wealthy Columbus banker are involved in a battle over their late father’s estate.

According to Muscogee County Probate Court documents, Frank G. Lumpkin III has redoubled his efforts to remove his sister, Julia W. Lumpkin, as personal representative of their parents’ multimillion-dollar estates. Frank Lumpkin sued his sister last year for millions of dollars in damages, claiming she breached her fiduciary duties by stubbornly delaying the administration of the estates. Julia Lumpkin has denied wrongdoing and filed a countersuit against her brother.

Frank Lumpkin filed an amended version of his lawsuit, which accuses his sister of violating the Georgia Code of Judicial Conduct and state law by serving as a judge and co-executrix of estates pending in her own court.

“Her actions not only constitute grounds for removal as Co-executor but should also be referred to the Georgia Judicial Qualifications Commission for investigation,” the lawsuit claims.

Julia Lumpkin recused herself from her parents’ estates last August after her brother filed the lawsuit. Frank Lumpkin’s lawsuit cites a Georgia statute that states: “The judge of a probate court cannot, during his term of office, be executor, administrator, or guardian, or other agent of a fiduciary nature required to account to his court.”

If you need assistance with probate litigation, please contact the Houston probate litigation lawyers of Garg & Associates, P.C., by calling 281-362-2865.

A lawsuit has been filed against two lawyers and a judge over their handling of civil rights icon Rosa Parks’ estate.

According to a Michigan Supreme Court filing, Wayne County Probate Judge Freddie Burton Jr. allowed two court appointed attorneys, John Chase Jr. and Melvin Jefferson Jr., to drain nearly $243,000 in legal fees from Parks’ $372,000 estate. The filing states that once the money was gone, the lawyers persuaded Burton to award them Parks’ vast memorabilia collection and the rights to license her name, which Parks had given to her Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development long before her death.

Attorney Steven Cohen, who represents the institute in the probate case, filed a request Tuesday asking the Supreme Court to overturn an appeals court decision that stood behind Burton’s handling of the case. Cohen accused Burton of overstepping his bounds.

“Since Mrs. Parks’ death in 2005,” the filing reads, “the court system of her adopted city has embarked on a course to destroy her legacy, bankrupt her institute, shred her estate plan, and steal her very name.”

Cohen claims that Burton has kept his actions and rulings sealed to prevent the public from learning that the lawyers were disregarding Parks’ final wishes.

If you need assistance with probate litigation in the Houston area, please contact the Houston probate litigation attorneys of Garg & Associates, P.C., by calling 281-362-2865.

Actor Gary Coleman’s estate remains tied-up in a legal dispute that has lasted almost a year.

The former child actor died on May 28, 2010. Coleman wrote a will in 2005 that left the bulk of his estate to his former manager Anna Gray. Coleman’s ex-wife Shannon Price, however, claims that she is entitled to Coleman’s estate because the actor made a handwritten amendment to his will naming Price as beneficiary.

The amendment is still in dispute. Lawyers are also debating whether Price should be considered Coleman’s common-law spouse. The couple divorced in August 2008, but continued living together.

If you need assistance with estate planning or litigation, please contact the Houston Probate Litigation Lawyers of Garg & Associates, P.C., by calling 182-362-2865.