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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-20-12 (2) IN RE: ESTATE OF IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS OF DAVID CLOUSER CUMBERLAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA ORPHANS' COURT DIVISION NO. 21-09-0204 IN RE: PETITION TO APPOINT PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE Proceedings held before the HONORABLE M. L. EBERT, JR., J. Cumberland County Courthouse, Carlisle, Pennsylvania on Thursday, September 9, 2010, commencing at 9:30 a.m. in Courtroom Number Two APPEARANCES: R. Mark Thomas, Esquire For Debra A. Houseman Michael O. Palermo, Jr., Esquire For Douglas G. Clouser N U '~j x-11 ~ -~ !n ~ ~ ~ N C ~ OG ~ rn -~' _ N ~ c~ `~ 'F o J aRIGINAI ?~ • INDEX TO WITNESSES FOR THE PETITIONER Debra A. Houseman FOR THE RESPONDENT Douglas G. Clouser DIRECT CROSS REDIRECT RECROSS 3 21 38 39 40 51 -- -- INDEX TO EXHIBITS FOR THE PETITIONER MARKED ADMITTED Ex. No. 1 - appraisal 8 8 FOR THE RESPONDENT Ex. No. 1 - appraisal 23 -- Ex. No. 2 - two checks 26 -- Ex. No. 3 - money gram order 27 -- Ex. No. 4 - letter 33 -- Ex. No. 5 - photographs 35 -- 2 1 THE COURT: Mr. Thomas. 2 MR. THOMAS: Your Honor, we're ready to 3 proceed, and I would call Debra Houseman to the witness 4 stand. 5 Whereupon, 6 DEBRA A. HOUSEMAN 7 having been duly sworn, testified as follows: 8 DIRECT EXAMINATION 9 BY MR. THOMAS: 10 Q Debra, please state your full name for the 11 record and spel l your last name. 12 A Debra A. Houseman, H-o-u-s-e-m-a-n. 13 Q And, Debra, where do you reside? 14 A At 1204 Mitchell Drive, Mechanicsburg. 15 Q And the house where you reside, how long have 16 you lived there? 17 A Roughly twenty -- nineteen years. 18 Q And was that also your fathers residence 19 before he died? 20 A Yes. 21 Q And in whose name was the house? 22 A In my father's and my mother's name. 23 Q Now, when did your father die? 24 A February 20th of 2009. 25 Q And I believe last time we were here we 3 1 introduced a copy of the will, and the Debra A. Houseman 2 referred to in the will of your father is you, correct? 3 A Right. 4 Q And there's two beneficiaries, correct, 5 yourself and your brother? 6 A There's what? 7 Q Two beneficiaries? 8 A Yes. 9 Q And your brother is Douglas Clouser? 10 A Yes. 11 Q Seated here next to his attorney? 12 A Yes. 13 Q Pursuant to the terms of the will, both you 14 and your brother were appointed as co-executors? 15 A Yes. 16 Q Since the will was probated, did you and your 17 brother seek the advice and counsel of an attorney to help 18 you with the settling of the estate? 19 A Yes. 20 Q How many attorneys have been involved that 21 you and your brother have hired to help with the settling of 22 this estate? 23 A Two. 24 Q And which ones were they? 25 A Walters. 4 • ! 1 Q Murrel Walters? 2 A Yes. I never met him until the day we did 3 the probate of the will. 4 Q But he was the first attorney that was hired? 5 A Yes. 6 Q Subsequently did you -- did the two of you 7 hire another attorney? 8 A Yes. 9 Q And who was the other attorney? 10 A Robert Knupp. 11 Q And did the two of you terminate the 12 relationship with Murrel Walters, the first attorney? 13 A My brother did. 14 Q Terminated the relationship with Murrel 15 Walters? 16 A Yes. 17 Q How about the relationship with Mr. Knupp? 18 A My brother did. 19 Q Your brother did. After Mr. Knupp's 20 employment as the attorney for the estate, did the two of 21 you go to another attorney to handle the estate? 22 A After Robert Knupp? 23 Q Yes. 24 A No. 25 Q Eventually you came to my office and asked me 5 1 to represent you, is that correct? 2 A Yes. 3 Q All right. And the main assets of the estate 4 consisted, I assume, of one house? 5 A Excuse me? 6 Q The main assets of the estate consisted of 7 what? 8 A The house and the belongings, my father's 9 belongings. 10 Q And then there were also some CDs? 11 A Yes. 12 Q But they had been titled in joint names, 13 correct? 14 A Right. 15 Q So have you had access to the CD's that your 16 father -- 17 A Yes, they've all been divided up already. 18 Q Now, with regard to the house, has the house 19 been sold as an asset of the estate? 20 A No. 21 Q Have you offered to buy this house? 22 A Yes, in March of last year. 23 Q March of 2009? 24 A Yes. 25 Q And have you repeatedly made offers since 6 1 that time to buy that house? 2 A Yes. 3 Q Has your brother as co-executor ever agreed 4 to allow you to purchase the house? 5 A Yes, but he stated he needed a fair appraisal 6 price done. 7 Q Now, the last time we were in court back in 8 January, ther e was an appraisal for the real property 9 scheduled, co rrect? 10 A Yes. 11 Q And it was scheduled for January 18th of 12 2010? 13 A Right. 14 Q Did a person come to the house to establish a 15 value for the house on January 18th? 16 A Yes. 17 Q Did you allow that person to come into the 18 house? 19 A Yes. 20 Q And was your brother, Doug, with that person? 21 A Yes. 22 Q Now, following that appraisal, did we make 23 requests of your brother and/or his counsel to provide us 24 with a copy of that appraisal? 25 A Yes. 7 1 (Whereupon, Petitioner's Exhib;it No. 1 was 2 marked for identification.) 3 MR. PALERMO: There is no objection to this 4 exhibit, Your Honor. 5 BY MR. THOMAS: 6 Q Debra, I'm going to show you what's been 7 marked as Petitioner's Exhibit 1 for purposes of today's 8 hearing. Is this a copy of what we received from your 9 brother's counsel? 10 A Yes. 11 Q And that allegedly is supposed to be an 12 appraisal of the fair market value of the property? 13 A From his realtor, yes. 14 MR. THOMAS: I would move for the admission 15 of this document, Your Honor. 16 THE COURT: You said there's no objection? 17 MR. PALERMO: There's no objection, Your 18 Honor. 19 THE COURT: Okay. P-1 will be admitted to 20 the record. 21 (Whereupon, Petitioner's Exhibit No. 1 was 22 admitted into evidence.) 23 BY MR. THOMAS: 24 Q Did you ever receive an appraisal that set 25 forth how that price was arrived at? 8 i 1 A From his realtor? 2 Q Right. 3 A No. 4 Q There's no comparable sales, no market 5 analysis? 6 A No, I didn't receive nothing. 7 Q No sales comparison analysis? 8 A Nope. 9 Q That's the only document that you received 10 concerning wh at your brother and his attorney were calling 11 an appraisal of this property? 12 A Yes. 13 Q Now, pursuant to the Court's earlier order in 14 this case in January, you were to provide your brother with 15 a key to the property? 16 A Yes. 17 Q That's the property where yoix live, correct? 18 A Right. 19 Q And did you, in fact, provide him with a key 20 to the proper ty? 21 A Yes. 22 Q Now, the personal property, without going 23 into a lot of detail, what did the personal property mainly 24 consist of? 25 A My father's house and then the antiques. 9 1 Q And these antiques are things that your 2 father had purchased over a period of time? 3 A Yes. 4 Q What period of time did he purchase the -- 5 over what period of time? 6 A Well, my father, he -- that was his business. 7 He started that in maybe '72. 8 Q So for the last 35 years or so your father 9 has been purchasing antique items and some of it, I assume, 10 is junk but some of it is valuable? 11 A Yes. 12 Q Now, according to the Court's order back in 13 January of this year, we were -- you in cooperation with 14 your brother were to determine a person that would do an 15 appraisal of these antiques, correct? 16 A Right. 17 Q And did we have an agreement with opposing 18 counsel and your brother that each side would submit three 19 names of acceptable appraisers for this property? 20 A Yes. 21 Q Did we, in fact, provide your brother's 22 counsel with three names that were acceptable? 23 A Yes. 24 Q Did we ever receive three names back from 25 counsel that -- in fulfillment of their part of the 10 1 agreement? 2 A No. 3 Q At some point did they advise 'us that they 4 wanted one person named Mr, Rowe to do the appraisal? 5 A Yes. 6 Q And after we did some background work, did we 7 finally agree that okay we will allow Mr. Rowe to do this? 8 A Yes. 9 Q Now, the order also said that when these 10 items were inventoried that both parties were to be present. 11 A Yes. 12 Q Did we ever hear from your brother or his 13 counsel with regard to setting up a date to have these items 14 appraised by Rowe? 15 A No. 16 Q Do you recall him saying that. in a letter 17 from his counsel that he wanted to at least appraise the one 18 storage unit whexe these items were being held? 19 A Yes. 20 Q And in that request to appraise those things, 21 who did your brother say should be present for that? 22 A Just him and the appraiser. 23 Q So he offered to do those appraisals, but he 24 -- 25 A But without me. 11 1 Q -- suggested that you not be there? 2 A Right. 3 Q That he could do it on his own? 4 A Yes. 5 Q Did you agree to that? A No. ~ Q These items that are being held in storage, S where are they being held in storage? 9 A New Bloomfield, PA. 10 Q Is there a name for the storage unit? 11 A Paulus Stor-All. 12 Q Stor-All? 13 A (Witness nods head affirmatively.) 14 Q And the items that were being held in storage 15 there, had the y been held there by your father prior to his 16 decease? 1~ A Yes. lg Q And was your name on the lease or were you 19 allowed to go into those units to see the items when your 20 father was ali ve? 21 A When my father was alive, yes. 22 Q Did you at any time go up to this Stor-All 23 unit for the purpose of looking and seeing what was being 24 kept in those storage units? 25 A After my father died? 12 1 Q After your father died. 2 A I wasn't allowed. 3 Q But did you go up there for the purpose of 4 seeing what was in it? S A Once. 6 Q And what were you told when you went up 7 there? 8 A That I wasn't -- she would not; let me in. 9 Q And what was the reason for that? 10 A Because my brother quote called up and took 11 over the payments and told her that he was in charge and I 12 had nothing to do with it anymore. 13 Q So have you had any opportunity in the past 14 six months to go up to the storage unit and observe what, in 15 fact, is being kept there? 16 A No. 17 Q Do you have any knowledge whether or not 18 during the last six months your brother has removed any 19 items from that storage facility? 20 A I have no clue. I have one key to one 21 storage garage and, you know, I haven't been up. My key 22 won't work in t he storage garage. 23 Q So as of this date have those items been 24 inventoried? 25 A No. 13 1 Q There were some items that you and your 2 brother -- prior to us coming to court in January, there 3 were some items, namely guns and things of that sort, that 4 had been agreed upon to be sold at auction between you and 5 your brother? 6 A Right. 7 Q And did you take those items to the 8 auctioneer along with your brother to be -- 9 A No. l0 Q who took those items? 11 A My brother and his girlfriend„ Penny. 12 Q All right. And where were those items 13 located before they took them to the auction house? 14 A In the rec room at my father's home. 15 Q All right. And were you present at your 16 father's home when your brother and his girlfriend removed 17 those items? 18 A No, 2 was getting my hair done. 19 Q And how did they get in to remove those 20 items? 21 A They broke in. 22 Q Causing any damage to any of the doors? 23 A Yes. 24 Q Have you, since that time, asked your brother 25 for a receipt showing not only the amount of money he 14 1 received from the auction house but also a list of the items 2 that were actually sold? 3 A Yes. 4 Q Have you received anything back from your 5 brother pursuant to those requests? 6 A Just a check, copy of a check. 7 Q All right. 8 A And that was after the court hearing in 9 January. 10 Q Okay. But you never got an inventory of the 11 items that were actually sold, is that correc:t? 12 A Right. 13 Q And you~ve requested that? 14 A Yes. 15 Q Part of the court order back in January 16 required you to commence paying rent as of July 1st, 2009. 17 Have you paid the rent since that date? 18 A Yes. 19 Q Are you current on the rent? 20 A Yes. 21 Q And who do you make those payments to? 22 A To Douglas Clouser and I send the check to 23 his lawyer. 24 Q Now, early on there was an issue raised by me 25 concerning a family exemption? 15 1 A Right. 2 Q And initially for a few months we were taking 3 the position that we were going to offset your monthly rent 4 against your claim for family exemption? 5 A Right. 6 Q And then later on we realized that that was 7 not correct and when that happened I instructed you to make 8 payments? g A Yes. 10 Q And you went over and you gave the check to 11 his attorney for how much? 12 A Well, I gave the check to you, and you took 13 it to them, the first check, and that was $3,600.00. 14 Q And since that time you've continued to pay 15 monthly rent? 16 A Yes. 1~ Q Are you paying the property taxes on the 18 property? 19 A Yes. 2p Q Out of whose funds? 21 A Mine. 22 Q To your knowledge has an inheritance tax 23 return itemi zing all the property in the estate been 24 prepared and filed with the Pennsylvania Department of 25 Revenue? 16 1 A For after my father died? 2 Q Right. 3 A No. 4 Q I notice in the answer to the Rule to Show 5 Cause that your brother and his counsel make reference to 6 some trees or something you had cut down on the property? 7 A Yes. g Q Did you pay for that out of your own pocket? 9 A Yes. 10 Q And why did you have those trees cut down? 11 A Well, the tree in the backyard, two of them 12 were hanging over the house, and there was a big split in 13 the back of the tree where it kept on splitting and it was 14 jeopardizing the power lines in the back of the yard. 15 Q So did someone recommend it to you to have it 16 cut down? 17 A Yes. lg Q Did there come a time within the last couple 19 months when you found out that there was a problem with the 20 furnace in the house? 21 A Yes. 22 Q What was the problem? 23 A Carbon monoxide was leaking into the house 24 from the water heater and the furnace. 25 Q And did the furnace need to be repaired? 17 1 A Yes, the piping did. 2 Q And did you have it repaired? 3 A Yes. 4 Q And what monies did you use to pay for those 5 repairs? 6 A My money. My inheritance. ~ Q So you've been using your money to maintain 8 the overall property where you live? 9 A Yes. 10 Q Which was your father's house? 11 A Yes. 12 Q And has the estate contributed any money to 13 you? 14 A No. 15 Q You recall us sending a letter requesting -- 16 advising them of the problems with the furnace? 1~ A Yes. lg Q Did we ever get a response fs-om them? 19 A No. 20 Q At this point are you satisfied with the way 21 the estate is being handled? 22 A No. 23 Q Do you believe that you and your brother 24 could, even with the assistance of counsel, work together to 25 get this resolved? 18 1 A No, 2 Q Would you trust your brother based on 3 everything that's happened for him to be th e person that 4 handled the estate? 5 A No. 6 Q Would you like the Court to appoint someone 7 to resolve this estate? 8 A Yes, I've been trying to get t;he estate 9 settled before I had to start paying them rent in June of 10 last year. 11 Q Now, do you work outside the home? 12 A No. 13 Q How old are you? 14 A How old? 15 Q Yes. 16 A Fifty. 17 Q And do you have a history of working outside 18 the home? 19 A I did have, yes. 20 Q Where did you work? 21 A I worked at Appleton Papers : in Camp Hill. 22 Q Anywhere else? 23 A And then I worked at Worrell after my 24 accident in 2007. 25 Q And were you injured in that accident of 19 1 200? 2 A The accident happened in 2001, and I had 3 three disks removed from my neck, so -- 4 Q Have you been able to find employment with 5 three disks removed from your neck? 6 A No, I'm an insurance risk. That's what I've 7 been told. g Q And what's your educational background? 9 A I graduated with twelve years of high school. 10 Q So what are you living on? 11 A My inheritance. 12 Q And that consists of the CD's that were -- 13 A Yep. That's the only inheritance I got was 14 my CD's and a life insurance policy that my brother and I 15 had split. 16 Q Do you still want to buy the house? 17 A Yes, but the house is depreciating the 18 condition that it is in. 19 THE COURT: What do you think it's worth? 20 THE WITNESS: I have no clue. I mean all the 21 windows need replaced. The roof needs done. I was told by 22 UGI and Zimmerman came in and did the piping on the furnace. 23 They informed me that the furnace and the water heater 24 should be replaced. 25 There's two and a half baths, and only one 20 1 bathroom works. The toilet and the sink in the one bathroom 2 works, but you can't use the tub and the shower because the 3 plumbing is bad, and then there's a leak in the other 4 bathroom. 5 THE COURT: In any regard, you don't believe 6 the as is price here of 149 is even close? 7 THE WITNESS: No. 8 THE COURT: What do you think it's worth? 9 What do you think with all the stuff? 10 THE WITNESS: Well now with finding out about 11 the furnace, I believe it's worth less than 120 thousand. 12 THE COURT: Less than 120? 13 THE WITNESS: Yes. I offered my brother half 14 of a hundred twenty in March or April of 2009, half of the 15 value price, the estimate. 16 THE COURT: All right. 17 MR. THOMAS: I have no other questions, Your 18 Honor. 19 THE COURT: Cross-examine. 20 MR. PALERMO: Thank you, Your Honor. I have 21 a lot of ground to cover, and I know the clock is ticking so 22 I'll move fast. 23 CROSS-EXAMINATION 24 BY MR. PALERMO: 25 Q Good morning, Ms. Houseman. 21 1 A Good morning. 2 Q I want to talk to you briefly ;about some of 3 your initial statements to the Court. Attorney Murrel 4 Walters, you, in fact, asked your brother to get rid of 5 Murrel, didn' t you? g A We talked about it. ~ Q Okay. g A But I didn't fire him. g Q You got Doug to fire him, right? 10 A Yes, he did it, but then I had to go clean up 11 his mess. 12 Q Robert Knupp, you asked Doug to fire him 13 because he wanted a percentage. He wanted too charge his fee 14 based on a percentage of the estate, correct? 15 A No. 16 Q That's not why he got fired? 1.7 A That's part of it, but that isn't why. Then 18 I asked Doug to keep him because of our disagreements. 19 Q Okay. The house is not sold. That 20 $120,000.00 figure that you have, who do you have that 21 figure from? 22 A From the county. 23 Q From the county. Did you ever have one of 24 your friends , somebody known to you, appraise that property? 25 A She came in and gave me an assessment price. 22 1 The same thing what my brother had done with his realtor. 2 Q Who is she? 3 A Patricia Hollister. Her married name is 4 Brenneman. She works for ReMax. 5 Q What price did she come back with? 6 A A hundred twenty seven. She stated to -- if 7 we put it on the market for 140 thousand, at least we'd get 8 120 thousand out of it. g (Whereupon, Respondent's Exhibit No. 1 was 10 marked for identification.) 11 MR. PALERMO: Judge, if I could approach? 12 THE COURT: Yes. 13 BY MR. PALERMO: 14 Q I'm going to show you what's marked as 15 Respondent's Exhibit 1. Now, Ms. Houseman, this is the only 16 appraisal I've ever been in possession of. 17 A That's right because she never gave me one. 18 It was just her coming in. lg Q Ms. Houseman, if I could, if I could finish. 20 I want you to look at that appraisal because this is the 21 appraisal that I've had the entire time that your counsel 22 told me is not an appraisal. Look through that document and 23 I'll ask you a couple questions. 24 THE COURT: This is 1? Just. that one page? 25 MR. PALERMO: My Respondent's 1 is about 16 23 1 pages. That's the only copy I've ever had, Your Honor, of 2 the appraisal. 3 MR. THOMAS: I've never seen i.t, Your Honor. 4 I would object to it at this point. 5 THE COURT: Well, I definitely want to see 6 it. 7 BY MR. PALERMO: g Q So your testimony is you've never seen that? g A No. 10 Q Never seen the comparative house values? 11 A No. 12 Q This would be the first time I told you -- 13 THE COURT: Stop. Stop. I want to see it 14 right now. 15 MR. PALERMO: Okay. 16 THE WITNESS: No, I never seen it before, and 17 I never got anything like that. 18 MR. PALERMO: Okay. I'll wait for Your Honor 19 to give me the okay. 2p THE COURT: All right. Your Petitioner's 1, 21 you're saying the only thing you got was, i:n essence, the 22 last page? 23 MR. THOMAS: That's correct, Your Honor. 24 We've never se en that document until this morning. 25 THE COURT: Okay. 24 1 BY MR. PALERMO: 2 Q So you've never seen that? 3 A No. 4 Q You live at 1204 Mitchell Drive, right? 5 A Yes. 6 Q Are you familiar with 1208 Mitchell Drive, 7 which is two doors up from you? g A Yes. g Q That sold recently, didn't it'? 10 A Yes. 11 Q If I told you that sold for $168,000.00, 12 would you agree with me? 13 A Yes. 14 Q Okay. 15 A Do you know why? 16 Q I don't know why. 17 A Because the man put over 60,(100 into it to 18 get that price . 19 Q Do you know that for a fact? 20 A Yes. 21 Q Do you have any documentation? 22 A No, I have what he told me. 23 Q So it's hearsay? 24 A No, he told me. 25 MR. PALERMO: I'll object to that, Your 25 1 Honor, and ask that we strike that figure. 2 THE WITNESS: I knew the man. 3 BY MR. PALERMO: 4 Q You say in October my client broke into the 5 estate property? 6 A Yes. ~ Q Did my client have a key in October of 2009? g A Yes. 9 Q I want to talk to you about the guns. Isn't 10 it true that you and Mr. Clouser went through the firearms 11 and made a list of the firearms to be sold? 12 A Yes, he made the list and he never gave me a 13 copy of it. 14 Q Did you make the list with him, Ms. Houseman? 15 A Yes. 16 (Whereupon, Respondent's Exhibit No. 2 was 17 marked for identification.) lg MR. PALERMO: If I could approach, Your 19 Honor? Thank you. 20 BY MR. PALERMO: 21 A Ms. Houseman, I'm going to show you what's 22 marked as Respondent's Exhibit 2. Briefly these appear to 23 be two checks, correct? 24 A Right. 25 Q One from Old Time Auctions in the amount of 26 1 $140.50, and one from Haar's Incorporated, Di:llsburg, for 2 $2,644.05? 3 A Right. 4 Q You were provided these, a copy of the 5 checks, correct? 6 A You provided my lawyer with a copy, yes. 7 Q Your understanding is these were for the gun 8 sale and some other assets that were sold? 9 A Yes. 10 Q Okay. So you're not alleging your brother 11 used the money for his own benefit, are you? 12 A No, I never said that, but I wanted to know 13 what else was sold at the auction because the items -- I 14 have no idea what he took to the auction house. 15 Q Would you agree with me based. on your prior 16 testimony that my client is paying Paul's Stor-All up in 17 Perry County, New Bloomfield? lg A Yes, since he took it over. 19 Q If I told you it was paid on a bi-monthly 20 basis at $381.60, you'd agree with me? 21 A Yes. Well, I know that when he took over 22 Paul raised the rent to my brother. 23 {whereupon, Respondent's Exhibit No. 3 was 24 marked for identification.) 25 MR. PALERMO: Your Honor, if I could 27 1 approach. 2 THE COURT: Yes. 3 BY MR. PALERMO: q Q I'm showing you what's marked as Respondent's 5 3, Ms. Houseman , a copy for Mr. Thomas. I'm showing you a 6 money gram order for $381.60 for the months of June and 7 July, and 2 wan t to talk to you about these units up in 8 Perry County. How many units are there? 9 A Three. 10 Q Three units. Do you believe, Ms. Houseman, 11 all three units are necessary at this time? 12 A They weren't necessary a year ago. 13 Q And, in fact, some of the stuff -- I'm using 14 the word junk. It's kind of junky garage sale items, 15 correct? 16 A In the one. 1~ Q At least one? 18 A That's not even a quarter of the way full. lg Q You agree it's probably a wa:~te of assets to 20 keep paying for roughly 190 bucks a month? 21 A And I even told my brother that a year ago. 22 Q In fact, your bother has offered to have them 23 sold, correct? 24 A According to my lawyer. 25 Q Are you aware your brother -- would you agree 28 1 with me that your brother did, in fact, deal antiques with 2 your father wh en he was alive? 3 A No. 4 Q Doug never did that? 5 A No. He went golfing with my father now and 6 then. 7 Q Okay. g A But just like June Paul, my brother was 9 involved with my father. My father had those: garages since 10 '99. Sh e didn't even know who my brother was. 11 Q You have a brother, right? 12 A Yes, another brother. 13 Q David Clouser? 14 A Yes. 15 Q Isn't it true that you actually have other 16 storage units up there in your brother's name that he 17 doesn't have a key to? 18 A No. 19 Q You have no storage units? 20 A I have two storage garages that are in my 21 name. 22 Q Okay. You don't have any units in your 23 brother David Clouser's name? 24 A My brother has three garages of his own up 25 there. He had them before my father moved up there. 29 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Q And you have two of your own up there? A Yes. Q Do you have any estate assets in those? A No. Q Nothing? A No. Q I want to talk to you about your testimony. A Does my brother have any estate assets at his home? Q He's not on the stand. You spay back in April you agreed to have Rowe's Auction House do tlhe personal property for the estate? A Did we agree to it? Q Yes. A Yes, to my lawyer. Q Are you saying that you told your attorney in April of 2008 that you agreed to have Rowe do the auction? A 2008? Q 2010, I apologize. April? A April of 2010? Q Yes. A Did I agree with it? Q Ism asking you when did you tell your attorney you agreed to have Rowe's Auction House do the appraisal of personal property? 30 1 A I agreed to it. I said that was fine. 2 Q And I'm asking you when, Miss? 3 A It was when my lawyer let me know because I 4 don't get any letters from you or my brother. 5 Q You were never shown letters ghat I sent to 6 your attorney? 7 A Yes, I said what was sent to my attorney. g Q Did you ever see a letter of ~7une 4, 2010, g from me to Attorney Thomas saying I've not received any 10 response from you authorizing Mr. Rowe to appraise the items 11 of personal property. Did you ever see a letter to that 12 effect? 13 A Yes. 14 Q And that was June 4th of 2010? 15 A Um-hum. 16 Q Me asking your attorney for :specific 17 authorization ? 18 A Yes. lg Q And then on June 9th, you fi:Led this 20 petition, cor rect? 21 A Right. 22 Q Okay. Let me just ask you this while we're 23 here for the Judge's convenience. Do you agree that Mr. 24 Rowe can conduct the auction of the personal property? 25 A Did I agree? 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Z5 Q Do you agree now, today? A Yes. Q Okay. Thank you. A Yes. Q Your son is living in the residence, correct? A Yes and no. Q Was he living in the residence at least half of 2010? A No. Q Was he paying you any rent? A No, he comes and goes. He's there maybe three days out of the week if he's there, and he has his other residence that he lives at. Q Does he have a bedroom in the: home? A Yes, he always did. Q Is he paying Mr. Clouser any rent? A No. MR. THOMAS: I would object to the relevance, Your Honor. MR. PALERMO: I'll move on, Your Honor. BY MR. PALERMO: Q Just briefly, do you view yourself as a tenant or an owner of the property? A Both. Q You're a tenant and an owner-, so do you feel 32 1 that all repairs done to that property should be borne by 2 the estate or by you or by both? 3 A By both. 4 Q By both? 5 A Yes. g Q Even your wear and tear of the property as a 7 tenant? g A Wear and tear? I'm the only one who's 9 maintaining the property. 10 Q You're also using the property, correct? 11 A Yes. 12 Q I want to show you this as soon as it is 13 marked. 14 (Whereupon, Respondent's Exhibit No. 4 was 15 marked for identification.) 16 BY MR. PALERMO: 17 Q Ms. Houseman, I'm showing you what's been 18 marked as Respondent's 4, if I could approach, Your Honor. 19 July 21, 2010, now before we talk about that letter, your 20 testimony on direct was this: You had repairs done to the 21 furnace already, correct? 22 A Yes. 23 Q And your testimony was your brother didn't 24 pay you for it, right? He hasn't made any offer, you didn't 25 receive any letter -- 33 1 MR. THOMAS: Objection. That's a 2 mischaracterization of the testimony. 3 BY MR. PALERMO: 4 Q You can tell me what you said. What did you 5 say about getting paid back for the repairs to the furnace? y A That I expected my brother to pay for half of 7 it. g Q And your brother didn't pay anything yet, 9 right? 10 A Yes. 11 Q Can you read the letter into the record, 12 please? 13 A What out loud you want me to read it? 14 Q Please. 15 A Please be advised that there is a problem 16 concerning the flume connector going into tYie chimney at my 17 client's residence. The property is owned by the estate and 18 therefore the cost of the repairs to this problem should be 19 paid by the estate. 20 We had the problem looked at and .a diagnostic at 21 the cost of $70.00 to my client. That was just for them to 22 come out which we would like to have reimbursed. We will 23 receive the estimate of the costs of the repair. I will 24 forward a copy to you and seek your authorization to have 25 these repairs made. 34 1 Q Did you ever provide your attorney with any 2 kind of appraisal and have it sent to me before the work was 3 done? 4 A No, because it had to be done. 5 Q It had to be done. So you'd agree you never 6 sought our authorization to do any repairs to the property. 7 Fair enough? 8 A Yes. 9 MR. PALERMO: Okay. 2 just wanted to make 10 sure because you've alleged we didn't follow through with 11 the obligation. 12 (Whereupon, Respondents Exhibit No. 5 was 13 marked for identification.) 14 BY MR. PALERMO: 15 Q Ms. Houseman, 2 want to show you a few 16 pictures -- and this will be my last exhibit, Your Honor -- 17 marked as Respondent's 5. It's a series of photos. 18 MR. PALERMO: Just for the record, Your 19 Honor, my client can authenticate these pictures when he 20 does testify. 21 THE COURT: What are they of'? 22 MR. PALERMO: Generally inside the residence 23 at 1204 Mitchell Drive, Your Honor. 24 BY MR. PALERMO: 25 Q Ms. Houseman, after you've h.ad a chance to 35 1 review those, I'll go over them with you and ask you some 2 questions. 3 A Okay. q Q The first page is two photographs depicting a 5 television on a -- the top picture is on apparently a chest, 6 looks like an older chest of drawers? ~ A Yes. g Q And the next picture is the same TV 9 apparently on a smaller end table? 10 A Yes. 11 Q Can you tell me, Ms. Houseman, what happened 12 to that original -- 13 A Me and my brother divided it. 14 Q That was divided and sold? 15 A No, he took my father's antique secretary 16 desk and I go t my father and mother's washstand. 1~ Q Okay. And where is the washe~tand now? lg A I have it. lg Q In your residence? 2p A Yes. 21 Q On Page 2 the top picture appears to be a 22 door that's removed from the hinges or the :rollers? 23 A It doesn't have hinges. 2g Q Okay. Rollers. 25 A Yes, because it won't -- I can't -- it would 36 1 not open and close in my closet. That's my c:Loset door. 2 Q Would you agree with me this is the condition 3 -- this pictu re reflects the condition of the house when the 4 appraisal was done? 5 A Well, it could be leaning up against my 6 closet door. What's the difference? 7 Q More importantly the second picture on this 8 Page 2 is the bathroom. Would you agree with me this is how 9 the bathroom was when the appraisal was done to the 10 property, cor rect? 11 A Right. 12 Q It's safe to say that bathroom appeared -- at 13 least the bathtub appears to be not in use? 14 A Yes, it's being used as storage -- 15 Q You're kind of using -- 16 A -- because the house is full of my father's 17 belongings, 18 Q And the last picture appears to be some kind 19 of a curio closet. Do you know where the contents of that 20 curio cabinet went? 21 A Yes, T have them. 22 Q You still have them? 23 A Yes, because my brother took guns out of the 24 house, and I told him well, if you take the guns, I'm taking 25 what I want out of the china cabinet. 37 1 Q Okay. 2 A But there is still stuff in th+~t cabinet. 3 Q Even though the picture shows it's empty? 4 A If he would have taken another picture, you 5 would have seen there was cabinet doors down below. g MR. PALERMO: That's all I have for Ms. 7 Houseman. g REDIRECT EXAMINATION 9 BY MR. THOMAS: 10 Q Ms. Houseman, the bathroom with the stuff in 11 it, was it tha t way when your father lived there? 12 A Yes. 13 MR. THOMAS: No further questions. 14 THE COURT: You may step down. 15 MR. THOMAS: Can I just briefly, Your Honor, 16 just one more point. 17 BY MR. THOMAS: 18 Q Is there an estate checking account 19 somewhere? 2p A There is an estate checking at Member's 1st. 21 Q And what's the status of that account? 22 A It's zero. 23 Q What happened to the money ghat was in it? 24 A My brother withdrew it on March the 10th or 25 15th of this year. There was two hundred some dollars in 38 1 the account. 2 Q Did he say anything to you prior to removing 3 that money from the account? 4 A No. 5 Q How did you find out that he removed it from 6 the account? ~ A I went to the bank to see if kie deposited the 8 auction funds that he got from the auctions t:o put in the 9 estate account, and it was never deposited in the account. 10 Q All right. So you don't know where the -- 11 you've seen this copy of the check, but you don't know where 12 that money is? 13 A Right. 14 Q There was $200.00 in the estate account that 15 is now gone and you have no idea where that is? 16 A Right. 1~ MR. THOMAS: No further questions. 18 THE WITNESS: And may I make a statement? 19 MR. THOMAS: No. 20 MR. PALERMO: Just briefly. 21 RECROSS-EXAMINATION 22 BY MR. PALERMO: 23 Q Ms. Houseman, you're aware of our exhibit 24 showing you the checks that were deposited into the Member's 25 1st account? 39 1 A That is not the estate account. 2 Q And you're aware that Mr. Clouser is paying 3 every month $381.00 for the storage units, correct? 4 A Yes. 5 Q You' re not paying for it, are you? 6 A No. ~ MR. PALERMO: Okay. T have nothing further, 8 Your Honor. 9 THE COURT: You can step down. 10 MR. THOMAS: We have no other testimony. We 11 move for the admission of -- I guess we only have one 12 exhibit. 13 THE COURT: P-1 will be admitted to the 14 record. 15 MR. PALERMO: I have no objection, Your 16 Honor. 1~ THE COURT: Okay. lg (Whereupon, Petitioner's Exhibit No. 1 was 19 admitted into evidence.) 2p MR. PALERMO: Mr. Clouser. 21 Whereupon, 22 DOUGLAS G. CLOUSER 23 having been duly sworn, testified a:s follows: 24 DIRECT EXAMINATION 25 BY MR. PALERMO: 40 1 Q Good morning, Mr. Clouser. 2 A Good morning. 3 Q Can you please state your name, spell your 4 last name for the record, and give your address. 5 A Douglas G. Clouser, C-1-o-u-s-e-r, 1875 Town 6 Hill Road, York Springs, PA. 7 Q Mr. Clouser, your father is deceased, 8 correct? 9 A Yes. 10 Q And your sister is Debra Houseman? 11 A Yes. 12 Q And you're a co-administrator, co-personal 13 representativ e of the estate, correct? 14 A Correct. 15 Q Okay. You're familiar with the house at 1204 16 Mitchell Driv e? 17 A Correct. lg Q Very briefly, your father, when he was alive, 19 did you ever assist him in the antiquing bu:~iness? 20 A Yes, I sold assets for him sometimes on a 21 weekly basis. 22 Q Go to auction houses? 23 A Yes, often. 24 Q You're familiar about auctioneers in the 25 area? 41 1 A Yes, sir. 2 Q After we were in court in January, did you 3 have the opportunity to have an appraisal done on 1204 4 Mitchell Drive? 5 A Yes, I did. 6 Q Were you present for that appraisal? ~ A Yes. g Q Okay. If I could approach, Your Honor, again 9 this is Respondent's 1. Mr. Clouser, that's an exhibit you 10 provided to me, correct? 11 A Yes, it is. 12 Q That's substantially the same form you 13 provided it to me? 14 A All those pages, yes, sir. 15 Q And would you agree that that. does have a 16 market analysis of similar situated properties? 17 A Yes, it reflects that in the document. lg Q Thank you. Very briefly, Mr. Clouser, I'll 19 show you Respondent's 2, which is a series of checks, that 20 I'll let you tell me what are those checks :From? 21 A Old Time Auctions was $140.50 and then Haar's 22 Auction in Dillsburg, Pennsylvania, was $2,644.00. 23 Q Was that from the sale of assets, estate 24 assets? 25 A Yes, sir. 42 1 Q Did you do that upon agreement with your 2 sister, Ms. Houseman? 3 A Yes, together we built a list so the 4 auctioneer could call out the type of rifle it was instead 5 of bidders -- 6 Q Very briefly just describe fox- me back in 7 October, November, when you and your sister vrere obviously 8 getting along and selling assets of the estate, obviously 9 memorialized by those checks you received, what went wrong 10 after that, that that no longer happened, that it no longer 11 worked? 12 A When I went -- 13 MR. THOMAS: I'm going to object to the 14 relevance, Your Honor. We covered this in January, and I 15 think the only thing that's relevant is what's happened 16 since January. 1~ THE COURT: I don't remember exactly. What 18 happened just briefly? 19 BY MR. PALERMO: 20 Q Was there a falling out? 21 A Yes, when I went to the house to ask her 22 about a real estate rebate check my father would have gotten 23 back and my father's insurance refund check, she put them 24 into the estate account. She got those checks, which I 25 don't know happened. 43 1 THE COURT: Going back to the auction, how 2 difficult would it be then? Didn't the auction keep an 3 inventory of what it sold? 4 THE WITNESS: .Yes. 5 THE COURT: Where is that document? Why 6 doesn't anybody have that? ~ MS. PALERMO: Do we have an inventory of each 8 individual item that was sold or do we just have the checks? g THE WITNESS: The past auction I provided 10 them. 11 THE COURT: I'm talking about the auction 12 house itself. When they sell something, they make a record 13 of what they sold. 14 THE WITNESS: Yes, I have those. 15 THE COURT: Why didn't you give them to her? 16 THE WITNESS: That's not a problem. What had 17 happened in the past I've always given her those receipts. 18 She claimed that she would keep track and I offered to do 19 that for tax purposes, but when I went to the house in 20 October to ask her about the other checks to put into the 21 estate account, I noticed that she emptied out the china 22 closet and was removing items. 23 THE COURT: 2 don't think we need to go back 24 and forth about how bad things are. This is a request to 25 get an independent person to settle this estate. I need to 44 1 hear from him why he's opposed to that because otherwise it 2 doesn't seem like it's ever going to get settled. 3 BY MR. PALERMO: 4 Q You heard the judge, Mr. Clouser. Are you 5 opposed to being removed as the personal representative of 6 this estate? 7 A No, I do not want to be removed. g Q Do you feel -- 9 THE COURT: Why are you opposed? Your sister 10 also said she wants to be removed. You're both going to be 11 removed, and we get a trustee because you can't agree. 12 Somebody is going to have to pay for that. :How do you 13 propose resolving this? 14 THE WITNESS: In the past I would liquidate 15 the assets, and I saved the estate money by handling -- 16 THE COURT: Well, the assets -- would you 17 agree that besides the assets or whatever tYiese antiques 18 are, would you agree that there's going to k~e no resolution 19 of the house, to the sale of the house? 2p THE WITNESS: Right. Until the assets are 21 removed, I agreed that i wouldn't want to sell it. 22 MR. PALERMO: I have some questions about 23 when he was at the appraisal of the house. 24 BY MR. PALERMO: 25 Q Mr. Clouser, when you were a,t the appraisal 45 1 of the house, and I'll reference Respondent's Exhibit 4, 2 first of all, while we're there, tell me about the chest 3 that it's on. What happened to the chest? Did you come to 4 an agreement o n that chest, sir? 5 A There was no agreement on this. This was to 6 go to auction because we both wanted it. It was my 7 grandmother's. g Q So let me interrupt you. when there was no 9 agreement on an item, you and your sister just put it to 10 auction and you could bid against each other'? 11 A That's the only fair way I felt that it could 12 be handled. 13 Q Okay. 14 A There was no -- my father and mother never 15 said she could have this chest in trade of the secretary 16 chest or my grandfather's desk. She was offered my 17 grandmother's cabinet and -- 18 Q Page 2, when you were inside the residence, 19 you took these photographs, correct? 20 A Yes. 21 Q And those pictures accurately depict inside 22 the residence at 1204 Mitchell? 23 A Yes, at the time of appraisal. 24 Q Can you describe the doors off the hinges and 25 what not in the house? 46 i ~ 1 A Yes, the only thing I could think of she was 2 trying to sabotage the appraisal by removing the doors. 3 There were frames taken off the door. There was the 4 removed off the bathroom floor. 5 Q Describe the bathroom for me briefly. 5 A Dry wall issues. There's sevf~ral bathroom 7 tiles lifted up. g Q Tiles, you mean flooring? g A Floor tiles. 10 Q And there was a storage -- basically a 11 storage unit the bathroom became? 12 A I don't know. Yeah, I don't know why she -- 13 I mean. 14 Q The last picture is of the curio cabinet. 15 Previously whe n you were in the residence, t:he cabinet was 16 full, correct, the curio cabinet? 17 A The china closet. 18 Q And that was empty? 19 A Yes. 20 Q Did you ask her where those assets went? 21 A Yes, and at that time she said they were 22 mine, and she said -- she told me to leave or she would call 23 the cops. 24 Q Your sister kicked you out of the residence, 25 correct, when you tried to inventory propes•ty? 47 1 A Yes. 2 Q Mr. Rowe, who we suggested inventory the 3 property and sell it, his normal practice would he inventory 4 all the items and give you and your sister ar.~ itemized list 5 of the items sold and what they sold for? 6 A Yes. ~ Q And you've agreed he could se:Ll all the 8 assets in the house, correct? 9 A Yes, I have no problem with ghat. 10 THE COURT: How do you spell his name? 11 MR. PALERMO: R-o-w-e, Your Honor. I have 12 his address also. 13 THE COURT: Is that the person on -- 14 MR. PALERMO: Out towards Mt. Holly, I 15 believe. 16 THE COURT: What is the address? 1? MR. PALERMO: I have it, Your Honor. I can 18 provide it in correspondence -- I think we both have it as 19 part of our correspondence. I'll provide it to your 20 chambers, Your Honor, before we leave here 'today. 21 THE COURT; Just give me your gut. I mean 22 you said you know something about antiques, and there's 23 stuff in Perry County and there's stuff in the house. 24 What's the total value of this stuff in your estimation? 25 What do you think it's worth? 48 1 THE WITNESS: You know, the storage garages, 2 some of that stuff is buried. 3 THE COURT: I know, but you've got to have a 4 feeling in your gut about this is worth a half a million 5 dollars, a hundred thousand, what is it? 6 THE WITNESS: You know, sir, at least a 7 hundred thousand. 8 THE COURT: All of this stuff from Perry 9 County could be brought to this home and an estate sale 10 could be conducted by Mr. Rowe and then the market is going 11 to determine what the value is, right? I mean you're 12 agreeable to that? 13 THE WITNESS: Yes, as long as all the items 14 could be appraised, even the items that were removed by 15 Debra. 16 THE COURT: Okay. Go ahead. 17 BY MR. PALERMO: 18 Q And, Mr. Clouser, you've alleged that certain 19 items that you knew were there are now gone from the 20 residence? 21 A Yes, sir. 22 Q Never to be found again? 23 A Hopefully they do. 24 Q There was a reason why you thought you could 25 get a higher value for certain items than selling them 49 1 outright at an estate sale, correct, and that was part of 2 the impediment here. You know from your experience in the 3 industry that certain items sell for a higher price, 4 correct? 5 A Yes. 5 Q Can you give me a brief examp:Le of that? 7 A Usually in the wintertime the:re's less 8 auctions so more people have to go to the sa:Les and when you 9 combine certain items to make interest of the sale, that 10 helps bring certain crowds into grouping of items. 11 4 So you didn't want to fire sale these items 12 because you felt the value would be reduced? 13 A Correct. 14 Q And the estate would be cheated? 15 A Correct. In my dealings with auctioneers, I 16 understand that some of them are dishonest wind can't be 17 trusted. 18 Q Having control of those assei~s would help 19 benefit the -- 20 THE COURT: But you trust Mr. Rowe? 21 THE WITNESS: Sir, I really don't know a 22 hundred percent, but I'm trying to proceed with trying to 23 liquidate assets. 24 BY MR. PALERMO: 25 4 All right, So you still war.~t to be on as 50 1 personal representative, correct? 2 A Yes. 3 Q Okay. And you're agreeable to Mr, Rowe doing 4 the auction? 5 A Yes. 6 Q And aside from the personal property, the 7 only asset left is the home? g A State that again? 9 Q The only asset besides the personal property 10 is the house at 1204 Mitchell, correct? 11 A Right, and the storage units. 12 Q And you haven't made up your mind whether you 13 would like t o make an offer against your sister to buy it, 14 have you? 15 A Not yet, not a hundred percent. 16 Q And apparently your sister is getting these 17 numbers for the first time so that's going t:o take some 18 additional t ime to come to a figure? 19 A Apparently. 20 Q But you've rejected her offer of $60,000.00? 21 A T object to that, yes. 22 MR. PALERMO: That's all I have. 23 CROSS-EXAMINATION 24 BY MR. THOMAS: 25 Q Mr. Clouser, do you recall t:he agreement 51 1 between you and my client and counsel that we were going to 2 exchange three names to try and arrive at a party that you 3 mutually agreed upon as an appraiser? 4 A Yes, I did, when we were here in January, and 5 I did that. g Q Did you ever provide us with three names? 7 A I provided that to Mike Palermo no more than 8 seven days afterwards. 9 Q And I suppose he provided you with copies of 10 letters that he sends to me? 11 A Pretty much, yes. 12 Q All right. And you never saw any letter in 13 which he provided me with three names, did you? 14 A I don't recall. I was verbally told that he 15 did. 16 Q Well, you were told that he clid? 17 A Yes, I could have some document. I'm not a 18 hundred percent sure. 19 THE COURT: Why don't we get to the secret 20 information of what three names did you give them? Who was 21 it? 22 THE WITNESS: There was six names to choose 23 from. Mr. Rowe would have been -- 24 THE COURT: My question is, you just stated 25 on the record that you gave Mr. Palermo within seven days 52 1 three names. Now, the answer to the question that 2'm 2 asking you is what are the three names and now you will 3 recite to me what are the three names that you gave him. 4 THE WITNESS: David Rowe. There was a 5 gentleman in Mechanicsburg. 6 THE COURT: Mr. Palermo, do you have the 7 names? g MR. PALERMO: I have the name of a Charlie 9 Miller. 10 THE WITNESS: Charlie Miller. 11 MR. PALERMO: And, Your Honor, I can clear 12 this up for the Court. Mr. Clouser and I went through the 13 three names on their list, and to put it lightly Mr. Clouser 14 felt they we re amateurs. They were in the job of just 15 selling. 16 THE COURT: All right. That's fine, but his 17 requirement was to get three of his names. What are they? 18 I've got David Rowe and Charlie Miller. 19 MR. PALERMO: I do not have a third, Your 20 Honor. 21 THE COURT: Did you ever give those, even the 22 two, to Mr. Thomas? 23 MR. PALERMO: That's the problem, Your Honor. 24 Mr. Thomas and I see each in court, and I believe I told him 25 none of my clients were on his list, but I have a guy named 53 1 Rowe, and 2 believe Mr. Thomas did his own research on Mr. 2 Rowe and actually talked to him on his own, a.nd that's how 3 we came -- we kind of -- to be honest with yau, Your Honor, 4 went around your three people. 5 THE COURT: Everybody thought it was going to 6 be Rowe, 7 MR. PALERMO: We came to an agreement on 8 Rowe. He wasn't on his list, but he would have been on 9 mine, 10 THE COURT: We've got to wrap this up. 11 MR. PALERMO: It's safe to say, Your Honor, 12 their three weren't the same as our three. 13 THE COURT: I can imagine that. 14 BY MR. THOMAS: 15 Q You also understand that the court order said 16 that no estate property, personal property, was to be moved. 17 You understand that's part of the order? 18 A Yes. 19 Q Yet you closed out the estate account which 20 was personal property and moved it somewhere. Do you know 21 where you moved it? 22 A I wrote a check to Paul's Stor-All with that 23 cash. 24 Q Why didn't you just tell -- why didn't you 25 just tell us that that's what you were doing? 54 1 A I informed Mike Palermo immediately and 2 provided the checks. 3 Q Would you trust your sister to take over the 4 estate and you step aside and let her do it? 5 A Not at this point, sir. 6 MR. THOMAS: I'm finished, Your Honor. 7 THE COURT: You can step down. All right. S We're here on a petition to appoint an independent party to 9 be trustee and settle this estate, and your client says I 10 don't want to do that. What's your solution here? 11 MR. PALERMO: He wanted to supervise the 12 selling of the assets, Your Honor, and what I'm trying to 13 prove on the stand here is that he was doing that and 14 obviously has receipts for it based on his testimony back in 15 October, November until they had this falling out. It was 16 getting accomplished. He has the experiencfs and expertise 17 to do this. There's no sense of this Court appointing a 18 third party that the estate is going to pay. 19 THE COURT: I'm not exactly sure about that. 20 She says she can't go into Paul's Stor-All because those are 21 his units now, yet he just said he used the estate money to 22 pay the rent for it. How would that be? 23 MR. PALERMO: These parties had an agreement 24 they would come and go to the storage unit:.. That was their 25 agreement, Your Honor. I mean if they were: allowed to sell 55 1 the items, the fact is none of them actually sold. Now, if 2 you want to bring in Mr. Rowe, they've agreed to let Mr. 3 Rowe sell the stuff. I don't think that requires a third 4 party administrator to come in and he takes the pay. 5 THE COURT: That still doesn't resolve the 6 house sale. 7 MR. PALERMO: It might not, Your Honor, but 8 given the new information, they now have the complete 9 appraisal, and I don't know how detailed -- 10 THE COURT: Even if she quote sabotaged the 11 appraisal, we're talking the mid range price, as is, is 12 about $152,000.00, so that looks like 76,000. Are you 13 saying that if she offered 76,000 this would be a done deal? 14 MR. PALERMO: I don't know because again 15 there's no requirement he has to sell the px-operty, Your 16 Honor. 17 THE COURT; I know this is a little strange 18 given the fact that she could live there in perpetuity for 19 $300.00 a month. She is renting the house for $300.00 and 20 will continue to do that forever unless this is sold. 21 MR. PALERMO: I understand, and that's my 22 client's decision. If he wants her perpetuity, he can do 23 that. If she wants to pay, or if she moves out -- 24 THE COURT: Well, it's also her decision if 25 she just says no, I don't want to sell this; house. I just 56 1 want to live here forever for $300.00 a month., 2 MR. PALERMO: I agree, I don't think -- 3 THE COURT: Until one of them dies then -- 4 MR. PALERMO: I know. It's a mess. 5 THE COURT: Which leads me to the idea that 6 when it's a mess, maybe an independent third party might be 7 a good idea to resolve this so I'm not listening to the same 8 thing four months from now. g MR. PALERMO: Or possibly a mediator. I just 10 don't see -- 11 THE COURT: You know what's sad is we're not 12 talking millions here. This estate is not like some of 13 these movie stars where family members fall out. This is an 14 incredibly sad affair to see a brother and sister break up 15 over this. I'm not saying it's small change or anything, 16 but a hundred thousand, two hundred thousan<~ dollars. 17 It's really, really sad to see families that get 18 into this predicament. Their father loved them both and now 19 it's all a question of dollars and cents and no family 20 attachment whatsoever, but I'll take it under advisement. 21 MR. PALERMO: I'll get you the address for 22 Mr. Rowe. 23 MR. THOMAS: Your Honor, if I might just 24 briefly respond. I mean it's been eighteen months, I 25 believe, since the father died. We're really no further 57 1 along. The tax return has not been filed. Niy client has 2 been offered to purchase the property for fifteen months 3 minimum, and she still doesn't have an answer yeah or nay. 4 THE COURT: Well, $60,000.00 is a whole lot 5 different from $76,000.00. I don't understand why. You're 6 saying all you ever got for the appraisal was that. 7 MR. THOMAS: That's correct, Your Honor. g THE COURT; And now there's fifteen pages of 9 appraisal that seem to be available. That just leads me to 10 believe that there's not any real serious cooperation, and I 11 see it on both sides. I mean everyone's stubborn. The 12 whole point about who got the grandmother's basin stand. I 13 mean we can't even agree on that. 14 MR. THOMAS: I agree, but if I could just 15 point out as I brought out through my client's testimony, 16 she's had three disks removed. She's a high school 17 graduate. The only kind of employment that she could get is 18 assembly line or labor work. 19 She's not able to go to work at that job because 20 she's an insurance risk, so she's dependent upon her 21 inheritance and she'd like to buy the house: because that's 22 going to put a roof over her head. She's made an offer to 23 buy the house, and the longer this thing dx-ags out, whatever 24 assets she does have are just being drained away and then 25 eventually she's not even going to be able to pay the 58 1 $300.00 a month. 2 I just think that we should have a third party 3 come in here and probably in six months they can wrap this 4 thing up, both parties could get their fair ;share, and they 5 could get on with their lives and that's what I would ask 6 the Court to do. 7 MR. PALERMO: Judge, if I could just give you 8 Mr. Rowe's address. It's Rowe's, R-o-w-e, Auction Service. 9 They're on 2505 Ritner Highway, Carlisle, PA, 17015. I have 10 a phone number if you want it. 11 THE COURT: All right. Thank you. We'll 12 stand in recess. 13 (Whereupon, the proceedings concluded at 14 10:45 a.m.) 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 59 CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that the proceedings are contained fully and accurately in the notes taken by me on the above cause and that this is a correct transcript of the same. ~~u~-~ ~. a ~d l~~ Laura F. Handley Official Court Reporter The foregoing record of the proceedings on the hearing of the within matter is hereby approved and directed to be filed. (R( 2 ~~ Date M. L, Bert, Jr., J.