The upcoming Megamilion jackpot gives me the opportunity to ask something I have often wondered about.
Say I win the lottery and immediately hire the prestigious firm of Dewy, Cheatum and Howe in Los Angeles. They put me in the hands of one of their fine young lawyers. I give him powers to act on my behalf, including bank accounts (would anyone do this?)
The fine young lawyer finds the access to the account too much to resist. He absconds with all my money. He is never seen again.
Does the firm have any liability?
Would this answer apply if we substituted ‘accountant’ for ‘lawyer’?
IANAL (and never regretted it). But being the distrustful paranoid I am, I would hire several independent lawyers to watch over my vast new wealth, and also to watch over one another. I would try to arrange things so that (if I need to give them access to my wealth at all), each would have access to only a distinct portion of it.
I would put the money into several (if it’s multi-million bucks, then many) different bank accounts, many different investments, and whatever other kinds of places I would want to park or invest it. – Spread it around some. Give each lawyer purview over some piece of it. Or hire accountants to do that, as needed. I’d be sure to ask people I trust if they can recommend lawyers they trust.
It may vary by jurisdiction, but the bar association in my province has an insurance program. In addition to covering lawyers, it also will cover members of the public in case of theft (there are limits, but they tend to negotiable in high-profile cases).
http://www.lawsociety.bc.ca/page.cfm?cid=195&t=Part-B