I worked with Donald R. Gustafson of Shipman & Goodwin and his partners Bryon Harmon, Robert Wyld and Danielle Ferrucci for a period of 4 years (2007 to 2011).
I had a horrible experience with both Donald , Bryon, Robert and Danielle. Donald was the Administrator of my father's estate and I can honestly say Donald Gustafson doesn't have an honest bone in his body. He charged me over $1,000,000 and basically scammed my father's estate by running up bogus legal fees on thousands of pages. He NEVER submitted ANY of my father's estate documents which allowed him to perform services that were never needed. I would truly recommend any potential clients look for other Trust and Estate attorneys and avoid the law firm of Shipman & Goodwin. Donald Gustafson is a no good greedy lawyer that thinks his clients money is his money and will rip you off anyway possible. Donald gives attorneys a very, very, very bad name. For details on how Donald scammed my father's estate please go to - ShipmanAndGoodwindotcom. Whatever you do DON'T EVER TRUST Donald Gustafson, Bryon Harmon or the law firm Shipman & Goodwin - unless you want to kiss your money good bye!
I had a very difficult time working with Bryon Harmon. Getting a summary of my legal fees was impossible...
Donald R Gustafson of Shipman & Goodwin was assigned in 2007 to be the Administrator of my father's estate. He worked with Bryon Harmon to handle Trust and Estate issues in the Norwalk, CT Probate Court. Bryon was brought in due to his background in Trust and Estates. During the 4 years of the estate Bryon never submitted any of the Probate Court approved documents. I had to File a Motion to force Bryon Harmon and Donald Gustafson to submit my father's estate documents - which was a Trust. Because Bryon Harmon and Donald Gustafson did not submit Trust documents it allowed his law firm Shipman & Goodwin to work on the Estate for about 3 extra years. Most of the work Bryon and Donald performed was not required and not needed. There was no need for him as an attorney to clean houses, work with utility companies, and talk with land keepers. By Bryon and Donald not admitting my father's Trust to the Probate Court they were able to bill me for work that most people would do for free. Just recently the total bill for legal services of Bryon Harmon and Donald Gustafson was over $1,000,000. In my opinion he was over billing me and his legal fees. His fees were really only about $50,000 to $100,000 worth of legal fees. They even billed me for attempting to sell land in Greenwich, CT that I instructed them not to do. They wanted to sell land to have extra cash in my father's estate so they could bill me more legal fees. I would really recommend people looking for an estate attorney have an agreement first about billing and oversight. I asked Bryon and Donald to have a review of their legal fees and he refused and suggested I should file a complaint in Superior Court. They became very nasty when ever I requested to review their so call ""legal fees"". I think all clients should have a right to review their legal bill with their attorney. Bryon Harmon and Donald Gustafson never actually reviewed their legal fees with me even though I requested several times.
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