A woman claims the Edwardsville law firm Swanson and Sackett failed to prevent the plaintiff’s ex-husband from draining a 401(k) account during divorce proceedings.
Alton attorney Keith Short filed the complaint on March 8 on behalf of plaintiff Dawn Ellis.
The defendant has not yet responded to a request for comment.
According to the complaint, Swanson and Sackett specializes in “family law, divorce and the protection of assets and monetary and property rights consequential to divorce.”
In November 2019, Dawn Ellis retained the firm to represent her in a divorce against Bobby Ellis, her then spouse. The plaintiff paid a retainer, and Michael Swanson undertook the responsibility for handling the case. A petition for dissolution of marriage was filed on Nov. 22, 2019.
At the time the petition for divorce was filed, Dawn and Bobby Ellis jointly owned a home in Edwardsville with a mortgage through FCB Bank.
Short wrote that Bobby Ellis also had a Fidelity 401(k) retirement account in which Dawn Ellis “had certain marital rights and interests in the proceeds.” The suit states that on several occasions in February and March 2020, Dawn Ellis communicated her concerns to Swanson and Sackett that Bobby Ellis would withdraw and exhaust the funds contained within the 401(k), which equaled approximately $180,000.
The defendant allegedly emailed Dawn Ellis on March 15, 2020, assuring her that the firm would take actions to prevent Bobby Ellis from draining the funds by filing a restraining order. However, she claims they took no steps to prevent Bobby Ellis from withdrawing the proceeds.
Short wrote that the Fidelity 401(k) was later fully dissipated by Bobby Ellis with none of the funds remaining. Additionally, none of the funds were shared or reserved as marital assets.
Dawn Ellis retained new legal counsel on Jan. 13, 2021, when the court granted the substitution of Sherer Law Offices.
On Jan. 29, 2021, Sherer Law Offices filed a notice of claim of dissipation of assets and made an oral motion for an emergency injunction relative to Bobby Ellis’s retirement accounts, savings accounts, checking accounts and all other financial accounts to which Dawn Ellis could make a claim for marital proceeds. The court granted the motion and froze the accounts.
The Edwardsville home Dawn and Bobby Ellis owned was then sold by court order, and the proceeds from the sale were approximately $39,000 - “an amount insufficient to make plaintiff whole from the dissipation of the Fidelity 401(k) account.”
“Any remaining marital assets are quite minimal and are also insufficient to make plaintiff whole from the dissipation of the Fidelity 401(k) account,” the suit states.
Dawn Ellis claims Swanson and Sackett breached its duty by “failing to file the necessary pleadings or take any other reasonable, necessary measure to prevent the dissipation of marital assets, despite plaintiff’s numerous requests that defendant take such action and despite defendant’s assertion to plaintiff that necessary documents would be filed on a specific day.”
The plaintiff seeks a judgment in excess of $50,000, plus all other relief the court deems just.
Madison County Circuit Court case number 22-LA-299