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A lawyer jailed for overcharging a deceased estate has been struck off the roll of barristers and solicitors following an eight-year battle by the estate's beneficiaries.
David James Watt, 54, was struck off by a five-member New Zealand Law Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal on Monday and ordered to pay hearing and associated costs of $14,366. He was convicted in the courts last year on the rare charge of criminal breach of trust, and sentenced to 15 months in jail.
Watt took fees of $160,000 when his only real duties were the sale of a Piha home and purchase of a property in Picton.
As trustee of the estate of Leonard Hoare, Watt gained access to $100,000 and when that was consumed by his fees, took out a mortgage against the home of Valda Hoare, Len Hoare's second wife, and continued to pay himself a further $60,000.
Throughout, he kept the beneficiaries - Valda Hoare, 85, and Len Hoare's five sons from his first marriage - in the dark.
One of the sons, Greg Hall (who changed his surname from Hoare), said yesterday that his stepmother and the family found it satisfying that after their long uphill battle, Watt had been found by his peers to be unfit to practise law.
During those years, the Auckland District Law Society had made "a complete turnaround". "Initially we were told we were authors of our own misfortune," Mr Hall said.
It rankled that Watt continues to deny any wrongdoing despite losing an appeal and being denied leave to further appeal to the Supreme Court.
Watt told the disciplinary tribunal that he had been wrongly convicted and was preparing a further application to the Supreme Court.
After serving three months of his jail sentence he was granted home detention by the Parole Board in July without his victims being notified. He had been granted leave to apply for home detention after offering to pay $60,000 reparation and expressions of remorse conveyed by his lawyer to the High Court. The family believe this was a sham as Watt immediately appealed against his conviction.
The Appeal Court endorsed the view of district court judge Roderick Joyce, QC, that Watt had dishonestly created an artifice in an attempt to justify his fraudulent charges.
Judge Joyce said in his ruling: "I ultimately came to the view that it became so important to Mr Watt to take as much money as he could from the estate that he descended to levels of artfulness which included endeavours to create a paper picture of a legitimate entitlement to do as he did."
The $60,000 reparation is all the family have recovered. Watt claims to be broke.
The family are considering options to recover more of the estate's money.
Mr Hall said although Valda Hoare had a house that was warm and dry it didn't compare to what she should have.
"It's been a long row to hoe. I've always said he should be thrown in the sheep dip."
