American Family Prepaid Legal Corporation and Heritage Marketing and Insurance Services Inc., with their co-owners, Jeffrey and Stanley Norman, just got nailed with a little under $6.4 million in fines from the Ohio Supreme Court for the illegal practice of law.
The companies preyed on the elderly through telemarketing and in-person sales calls, with more than 3,800 acts of unauthorized law practice through a "trust mill" operation with overpriced and unnecessary legal plans and annuitities.
The companies and their co-owners are now permanently barred from business in Ohio.
TAKE AWAY: Protect yourselves and your edlerly friends and family from these scams by obtaining qualified and reputable estate planning counsel. When dealing with your personal and real property, get referrals from those you trust, check out the state bar association for complaints, and screen accordingly. And as many times as you’ve heard it, I’ll say it again – if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
