By Peter J. LaBelle
In 2008 Phyllis Agan, age 88 of Ludlow died with an estate worth in excess of $7 million. She left most of the money to her niece Cathleen Curran of Lansing, Michigan and to her sister Joanne Curran, also of Lansing. About $1.2 million was to go to local Ludlow charities and churches that Mrs. Agan had worked with throughout her adult life. Shortly after Mrs. Agan died, Cathleen and Joanne Curran, joined by Mrs. Agan’s nephew Dr. Michael Curran, a surgeon from Cincinnati, Ohio, sued the charities to nullify the amounts that the charities were to receive and to gain the entire $1.2 million for themselves.
The case was scheduled for trial in Vermont Superior Court in Woodstock and after eight days of sometimes grueling trial, on February 8th the jury returned a verdict that gave the entire sum in question to the charities selected by Mrs. Agan.
Mrs. Agan had Alzheimers Disease when she died and suffered with it for several years. In 2005, while still able to determine her own finances, she had voluntarily asked Robert Kirkbride, her long-time friend and neighbor to be her guardian to help with her monetary affairs. She had put her assets into a trust many years before and in 2005 she asked Mr. Kirkbride to help her allocate some of her wealth to deserving charities in the Ludlow area. He worked with her to identify charities with which she had some connection and she determined what money the charities would receive upon her death. Mr. Kirkbride insisted that Mrs. Agan also leave some money to her estranged nephew, Dr. Curran and an estranged sister. Dr. Curran had no contact with his aunt for the last fifteen years of her life, but she included him in her trust at Mr. Kirkbride’s insistence.
Dr. Curran along with his mother and sister claimed that Mrs. Agan lacked the mental capacity to make those gifts and claimed that Mr. Kirkbride, who received no bequest from the estate, coerced her into making the gifts to charity.
At trial the jury heard about incidents during 2004 and 2005 in which Mrs. Agan had shown signs of beginning dementia. They also heard about many incidences of her continuing ability to handle her own affairs at least through 2005. Experts testified about the progression of dementia in elderly people and about Mrs. Agan, although none had ever seen her. Her physician, Dr. Mitch Miller, formerly of Ludlow, testified to treating her and told of the medications that she took to stabilize her condition.
Attorneys for the charities, Peter Langrock of Middlebury, Andrew Boxer of Springfield and William O’Brien of Winooski presented many Ludlow residents who testified to Mrs. Agan’s deep roots in the community and to her long-time commitment to the charities and churches involved. The Currans have not yet indicated whether they will appeal the jury’s verdict.
(Editors Note: Subsequent to the publication of the above article, an article in the Rutland Herald stated that the Currans did plan to file an appeal of the decision.)
Comments