Mark William Sager

Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision

Mark William Sager, a BC lawyer called in 1991, admitted to professional misconduct under Rule 4-29 relating to his handling of the estate of his former client and friend OM. He caused OM's 2010 will to be prepared naming himself trustee/executor with broad discretion (including to use estate funds to travel to England to visit OM's sister FM), without OM obtaining independent legal advice, creating a conflict of interest. He improperly withdrew $44,800 in executor's fees and $26,790.81 in care and management fees without beneficiary consent or court approval, failed to maintain proper estate records, and failed to contact the residual (charitable) beneficiaries for about nine years. He later passed his accounts in court and repaid $40,857.66 to the estate. The Discipline Committee accepted his admission plus a two-year undertaking not to practise law or handle fiduciary property, effectively ceasing his membership as a result of disciplinary proceedings. No express finding of dishonesty was made; several improper charges were characterized as mistakes.

Duties found breached:

• Continuity and handover of representation
• No conflict between current clients
• Handle inadvertently received material
• No improper use of client money

Mitigating factors:

• Voluntarily filed a notice of application to pass accounts and repaid $40,857.66 to the estate, distributed to the Four Charities
• Made frequent personal visits to FM (at least 18 trips) and did not charge professional fees for that travel
• Cooperated by entering an Agreed Statement of Facts and Rule 4-29 admission

⚠ figures not found verbatim in the source were dropped: ["unverified_suspension_months=24"]