Probate Law News

Lake Worth Tax Return Preparer Convicted On Tax Fraud, Contempt Charges

R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Eileen J. O’Connor, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Tax Division, and Michael Yasofsky, Jr., Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Criminal Investigation Division, announced today that, following a five-week trial, a federal jury in West Palm Beach found defendant Louis Wayne Ratfield, a Lake Worth, Florida, tax return preparer, guilty on fifty charges in connection with his participation in a tax fraud scheme to hide income and assets in bogus trusts.

On April 13, 2006, Ratfield was charged in a fifty-six count Indictment with preparing for clients and himself fraudulent federal individual and trust income tax returns, corruptly impeding the enforcement of the tax laws, and criminal contempt. Prior to trial, the government dismissed five of those counts. The Indictment alleged and evidence offered at trial established that Ratfield operated LWR Accounting and Tax Service, a tax preparation business, later called LWR Financial Services Trust. The businesses were located in Lake Worth. REad more at usdoj.gov.

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	Did You Know?
	Probate Is Handled In Court Probate cases normally occur in state and county court where the deceased permanently lived at the time of his or her death. In different states such courts may go by different names. Some are simply called the Probate Court. In New Yorkthey are called the Surrogates Court and in California they are called the Superior Court, Probate Division. The probate court will normally handle all the personal property the deceased owned, plus all the real estate the deceased owned located in that same state.