Elderly Couple Accuse Attorney Of Tricking Them Into Signing Away Home; Transfer Made In Payment Of Legal Fees, Responds Lawyer

In Springfield, Tennessee, WSMV-TV Channel 7 reports:

• An elderly Springfield, Tenn., man said a Nashville attorney had him sign his lake house away while recovering from a stroke. W.H. "Blue” Howse, 84, and Ruth Howse, 85, are accusing [Fletcher] Long of taking their lakefront cabin at a time when they were most vulnerable. W.H. said he was on his death bed after a stroke and that his wife wasn’t aware that they were signing over their cabin. "He took advantage of the fact that I hadn’t had any rest and that Blue was just out of intensive care, and (he said), '(I) just want you to come in and sign some papers,'" said Ruth. The couple said they thought they were signing over rights for Fletcher Long to be power of attorney in an unrelated estate matter. "This would have been the perfect crime had I died, but I didn’t,” said W.H.

• However, Long said he had been representing the couple in various legal matters for many years and they never paid him for his services. He said the Howses said they were signing over the cabin as a way to pay their debt.

For more, see Elderly Man Says Attorney Took His Lake House (Fletcher Long Says Cabin Was Debt Payment).