The Law Offices of Dennis J Szafran Reviews (%countItem)
The Law Offices of Dennis J Szafran Rating
Address: 13119 W Linebaugh Ave STE 102, Tampa, Florida, United States, 33626-4494
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Estate of: ***
Date of Death: ***
Our Case Number: ***
Medicaid Number: ***
Social Security Number:***--***
I am writing to you on the behalf of ***. ***'s estate.
*** and I had been together for 46 years and never married. I am disabled and have many health issues as well as being the Administrator of ***'s estate.
I have been waiting over 16 months to have this probate closed. *** died on 02/22/2018. I looked around for estate attorneys and came upon Dennis Szafran's office. He is in Tampa, FL. The next 16 months goes as follows:
*Contacted attorney Dennis S. April 2019. Quoted and accepted $2,000 retainer.
I first spoke with Dennis Szafran in April 12, 2019. He gave me a quote I accepted it and sent a $2000.00 retainer.
*Later contacted by associate "Shelby;' sent information to "Shelby" in April 12 2019. Received email from Shelby and sent in the forms and paperwork she needed.
*Received email from associate T. M. S., FRP, now in charge of probate. Wrote to her multiple times from May 17, 2019 to August 1, 2019. Firm never contacted me to let me know she no longer worked there.
*My new contact: S. B. 08/20/2019; does not contact with updates; only contact is if I call them.
*August 14, 2019 a letter was sent to Dennis S.'s office from the Agency for Healthcare Administration asking for a check in the sum of $20,440.35. I was told about this letter from the receptionist Cory B. via email on September 18,2019. I found that being a month old was a bit too much with asking me to get it filled out right away and give them more money to cover the costs.
*H. B. is now my new contact. As of this writing my contact, she does not contact me. Last communication from her was 03/16/2020.
*Medicaid filed claim against estate; $20,000 "owed" on 10/16/2019. I do not owe anything, but I am suffering the consequences (delaying end of probate, the threat of being required to pay money that I do not have). I was Mr. fiancé; unfortunately, he died before we were married. The house was passed to me. H. B. stated there is no time limit regarding Medicaid's attempt at extortion.
*I overnight posted 40 pages of hardship information for Medicaid (hardship exemption) to the firm upon learning that Medicaid had filed a claim against the estate.
*There has been no communication from the attorney since March 16, 2020. My attempts to reach anyone at the firm have been unsuccessful for approximately five months. I was told H. Ballinger was "working on it" by the receptionist.
*Sixteen months since first contact; I am living in the house, paying all bills/taxes; waiting for end of probate.
*I have tried 1 more time 08/04/2020 to contact Holly and/or Dennis. I was told he was on the phone and Holly told the receptionist to tell me she is following up. It is a shame neither of them had a second to speak with me.
*I also wanted to know what the Capitation codes meant. It states that *** had Long Term Care. I was here with him until the end and he only had a person coming in to help bath him and to dust the house. The fees are showing as *** Medical Plan *** for 4 months are all over $3k (9/18 - 12-18) Then *** Medical Plan ***(1/19 & 2/19) All of these amounts are over $3K+ stating Long Term Care that he did not have.
Any assistance or Intervention by your office on my behalf would be eternally appreciated. It has turned into a never-ending saga; it is always painful and continually stressful. I have tried my best to follow up with attorneys and promptly provide them with any information they have requested, their office has not done the same. The time has dragged on and all I receive from their end is "I will check in with them a few times a month".
Kind regards
The resolution I hope for is for this Attorneys office to handle this case as if it cared about the entire probate. If it were a huge estate I would understand, but we are speaking of one house with a value of $130,000.00 +/-. Each client should be treated with respect and not ignored.
We understand our client's frustration and share in same. Unfortunately, our hands are tied by the law regarding homestead property distribution and claims against an estate. Being that our client was not married to the decedent at the time of his death, and that the real property was owned solely by the Decedent, the property cannot be transferred without resolving outstanding claims against the estate. The claim filed on behalf of the Agency for Healthcare Administration has to do with Florida Medicaid that was paid out on the behalf of the Decedent prior to his death. We understand that our client resides in the property, that she has limited income and is disabled. This is why we assisted her in a hardship waiver that was sent to the Agency. The hardship waiver is above and beyond what we were retained to complete, but our office assisted and did not charge any additional fees. Our office has forwarded all of the necessary information to the government agency and has continuously reached out to them for a status update to no avail. As has been communicated with the client, we will provide an update regarding the status of the hardship waiver as soon as we had an update to provide. Despite numerous attempts to reach the government agency, we have had no update from them. When the client has contacted our office regarding same, she has been told that our office has reached out to the government agency multiple times and that unfortunately, we still do not have any update from them. Our office would like nothing more than to move forward and close out this matter for the client. We do not prolong an estate out of unnecessary means. however, in this particular matter, the outstanding claim does not allow us to proceed with the transfer of the property to the client and until that claim is resolved, we cannot transfer the property or close the estate.
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
I do accept the response from those incharge. We have had a very positive conversation and we now know why the direction got so fouled up. Communication is the key to this issue and we are all on the same page now. Thank you for your help.