The Castaic Board of Trustees is planning on hiring an attorney at its next meeting to help with an ongoing legal matter with a Castaic resident.
The Board is set to approve a retainer agreement regarding the status of the Carol Jene Fielder Trust at Castaic Middle School during a special meeting Wednesday.
Carol Jene Fielder established her trust to create a scholarship fund for Castaic Middle School Alumni upon the sale of her home, according to an Oct. 15, 2015 Castaic Board Meeting Agenda.
This trust and scholarship fund, called the Castaic Middle School Trust, is now under control of the district; however, a current tenant of the home Fiedler once owned has refused to distribute the remainder of the Fielder estate to the full benefit of the middle school.
Andres Tapia is an individual who was once made responsible for the estate, and has control of the Castaic home, according to an attorney-client fee agreement document between the Castaic District and Evelyn Leathers of the Bezaire & Leathers firm.
Tapia has breached his duties as a trustee of the estate by failing to maintain the property and pay the mortgage of the home, per the agreement. A default notice was filed against the property around Aug. 18 of this year.
The home will likely receive a notice of foreclosure within 90 days and the district wishes to sell the home in a trustee sale immediately.
To facilitate these actions, the board hopes to hire Leathers to work on behalf of the district to remove Tapia as a trustee and to protect the assets (home) of the Castaic Middle School Trust.
The agreement states that Leathers will “prepare, file and appear in court on litigation required for the following: Remove Andres Tapia as trustee; designate a new trustee; cause the house to be distributed to the Castaic Middle School Trust; assist in removing all tenants from the house; and assist in hiring a realtor and performing work needed to sale the house.”
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