A local lawyer accused of misappropriating estate funds will face a conduct hearing this week.
A three-day hearing concerning Robert Joseph Comartin is scheduled for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday before the Law Society of Ontario Tribunal. The hearing will take place at the Law Society's headquarters in downtown Toronto.
The purpose of the hearing is to determine whether Comartin engaged in conduct unbecoming a lawyer licensee or other professional misconduct.
Papers that were filed on May 24, 2018 list several charges against Comartin, all of them related to his alleged handling of an estate trust.
According to the complaint from the Law Society, Comartin served as both an estate trustee and the lawyer of record for the property in question between 2004 and 2015, without disclosing the conflict-of-interest.
Comartin, whose office is listed in Tecumseh, is also accused of misappropriating estate funds, paying himself and a co-trustee over $406,000 from the estate, increasing Comartin's entitlement; failing to notify the court about the funding he paid himself from the estate, and failing to disclose that the life beneficiary was probably unable to make decisions on their own because of a disability.
These allegations have not been proven before the tribunal.
According to a listing in the Yellow Pages, Comartin's firm handles cases pertaining to estate administration, real estate law, divorce and separation.
-With files from Paul Pedro
