AZ lawyer, during the past week there has been a flurry of activity from CMJA's supporters to raise money for her appeal. Is it likely that the trust created for her appeal funds will be considered invalid if challenged? It looks like a sham trust designed to shelter donations from any civil judgement against Arias by the Alexanders, and thus donations may be considered fraudulent transfers under the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act?
The Alexander family announced their intent to sue Arias for wrongful death in May 2013.
Arias suspended the collection of appeal donations in the summer 2013 and resumed collection in October 2013, when it was announced that an irrevocable trust had been established for appeal donations. Trust instrument has not been made publicly available, so situs is unknown. Aunt appears to be both settlor and trustee, but it is not known whether there are multiple trustees. From a blog explaining the legitimacy of the fund, the aunt is quoted:
"I did it legally through a reputable lawyer. I spent a lot of time finding the right lawyer that would do a trust how we needed it done to protect the donations. I had it notarized, got a EIN number and opened up a business account for the money to be deposited into. Then I opened a PayPal account and a PO box so that people could donate however they felt more comfortable. The trust is set up so that I cannot use any of it for myself. I do not take a trustee fee which the lawyer and the tax consultant told me I should be doing, but I refuse to make any money from this account. The donation pages on jodispage.com and on JAAI [************************] site are set up to go directly to the PayPay account which gets transferred directly to her Trust Account and the money that is received from the PO Box also goes directly into her account. As Jodi’s Aunt I can assure you that no one else has access to the Paypal, PO Box for the Trust account except myself. NO ONE is making money from these donations. I urge you all to trust in me and please continue to help Jodi. We want her to have the best representation available for her appeal. I thank everyone who has donated so far and continue to donate."
source:
http://laschi03.wordpress.com/2014/05/20/is-the-jodi-arias-legal-defense-fund-legit/
I'd love to see any and all donations to Arias get awarded to the Alexander family.