Steer Clear of Barbara Krasnove
Barbara Krasnove was recommended to me by a family member, since she had previously handled the estate of my grandmother’s sister. The initial paperwork was filed without any problems, i.e. being assigned the personal representative, opening an estate account, filing inventory, giving notice to creditors, etc. She is able to identify correct paperwork and perform these basic tasks without too many problems. However, problems did arise in the transfer of the co-op shares owned by my father. I was living in the co-op part-time (although I had a second residence elsewhere) and helping my father as his health deteriorated over the past 3 1/2 years. There was an aggressive co-op board who had wanted to send my father to assisted living prior to his death, but did not have the authority to do so. After he passed away, they became ever more aggressive toward me for residing in the apartment. There was a lot of complexity in the case and a variety of options in how to handle the co-op situation. Ms. Krasnove clearly was not interested and was rude and abrasive. She would say things like, “the co-op is a disgusting dump, just get rid of it”. At one point we agreed that I would keep the coop and buy out my brother’s shares after an appraisal process and approval by the judge. Then she decided without consulting me that it would be sold. When I pointed out that is not what we agreed upon, she fired back several emails and called me to yell at me for one hour. I was in a Walmart pharmacy at the time and I believe that every person in the store could hear this woman yelling at me at full throttle lung capacity. She wanted an apology for challenging her authority in determining how to dispose of my father’s co-op. My email to her was direct, but not impolite, although she did not share this opinion. The co-op by-laws do offer a provision for residing in an apartment after the member’s death, in particular for a family member who was providing help to an elderly person, such as myself. Again, Ms. Krasnove was not interested in this complexity, only in making decisions for others to follow without question. I terminated Ms. Krasnove as my lawyer, because in cases of conflict, she took everyone’s side but mine and she completely disregarded my interests. I simply could not trust her at all. A very large part of probate law in South Florida entails dealing with HOAs and co-op boards and she needs to realize that not everyone wants to throw away a property that may have been in their family for years. She only cares about what is best for her and collecting maximum fees in the shortest amount of time with as little effort as possible. If you are in a similar situation, steer clear of Barbara Krasnove.
