SerpApi.Org
Legal cases with ties to a former Lexington probate attorney accused of wide-scale fraud continue to multiply as more victims come forward with claims.
Dozens of former clients of Lyle McQuinn are seeking alternative avenues for trying to pick up the pieces after they lost hundreds, thousands, and sometimes millions of dollars paid for Lyle McQuinn to prepare and execute their wills.
McQuinn, 48, was a partner at Goeing, Goeing and McQuinn (now Goeing Law) when he was sued by a woman who said he stole more than $5 million from her estate in a civil lawsuit filed in March 2025.
As the case unraveled, hundreds learned their wills could be fraudulent as part of a scheme that left McQuinn with more than $25 million in assets at the time of his death.
McQuinn’s alleged scheme began to unravel when attorneys for Linda Helton, 80, filed a lawsuit March 5, 2025, claiming he stole as much as $5 million from her late husband’s estate.
Eight days later, McQuinn abruptly married his longtime girlfriend, Kelly Leigh Jordan. Five days after that, on March 18, he died by self-inflicted carbon monoxide poisoning, according to a coroner’s report.
A July 30, 2025, story from the Herald-Leader revealed the appointed public administrator, John Norman, thought McQuinn may have perpetrated widespread fraud against his clients.
He wrote in court documents that there could be as many 3,800 victims. Since then, dozens of additional alleged victims have come forward, according to a pair of recent court filings.
But the victims have now begun to seek alternative methods to recoup what they lost when more than 80 were notified that their claims could not be filed against McQuinn’s estate for a myriad of reasons.
Why their claims have been denied
As of July 22, more than 80 people have been denied to file a claim against McQuinn’s estate in efforts to receive compensation for a total of more than half a million dollars in lost funds.
The total claims against McQuinn’s estate since this past spring total $6.51 million, according to an inventory filed in court documents.
Claims were denied by the estate for different reasons, including lack of evidence, filing past the October 2025 deadline to file a claim, and pending litigation.
Alleged victims say he stole from loved ones’ estates through phantom trusts, excessive attorney’s fees, voidable wills and self-dealings. Their claims range from a few hundred dollars to millions.
Most say their wills were signed fraudulently by people who were not present at the time of the signing, in violation of Kentucky law, which requires that two witnesses be present to execute a will. Several of the wills showed signatures from Beard, McQuinn’s wife and his sister-in-law. It is unclear if his wife was an employee at the firm, or why her signatures were on the wills.
Though specific allegations against McQuinn vary, several families told similar stories of potentially invalid wills, according to court documents filed this fall.
The recent claims don’t allege outright theft, but rather that the services people paid for weren’t completed, since the wills could be legally invalid. Many former clients are working to determine if their documents are legitimate.
Norman’s attorney, Whitney Wallingford, said many of the claims were denied because they lack evidence, or supporting documents that make their claim valid.
“The courts can require individuals witnessing the will to come in and testify,” Wallingford said. “But until then the claims are denied because there is no other evidence or independent verification of that.”
For example, with the suspected invalid wills, the only evidence is the affidavit filed. There are no additional documents, and in previous testimony from Beard and Jordan in separate proceedings, they denied ever signing their name to a will they did not witness.
Despite the denied claims, Wallingford said his and Norman’s office still receive at least a call a day from a former client of McQuinn’s.
“We continue to get calls,” Wallingford told the Herald-Leader. “I can’t think of a week when I didn’t get two or three calls per week. We are still getting plenty of calls on McQuinn issues.”
How alleged victims are seeking compensation
Wallingford said several of the victims whose claims were denied have sought relief from the Kentucky Bar Association’s clients security fund.
The fund was created by the Kentucky Supreme Court to “promote public confidence in the administration of justice and the integrity of the legal profession” by providing some measure of restitution to clients who have lost money because of the dishonest, fraudulent acts, or other unethical conduct of a member of the KBA, according to its website.
The fund is not paid for by tax dollars, but rather other KBA members. According to the Supreme Court, all members have an obligation to the public to reimburse clients who have lost money or property as a result of the dishonest conduct of another lawyer.
To qualify, applicants must have had an attorney-client relationship that resulted in dishonesty, fraud, or other unethical conduct.
“Dishonesty and fraud denote wrongful conduct in the nature of theft, embezzlement and conversion of money, property or other things of value,” the website states.
Claims must be filed within two years of knowing the fraud was committed.
Other individuals who are filing against McQuinn have filed their own litigation to try and recoup money.
Wallingford expects the original litigation and probate matters to continue, and that dozens of other proceedings will spawn as a result of the entire McQuinn saga.
“Anything with McQuinn fingerprints comes with challenges and unique circumstances,” Wallingford said.
McQuinn’s former clients have created a public Facebook community page called Lyle McQuinn Community and Information. According to the group’s biography, it intends to be a safe place for people to share updates about their claims.
The original lawsuit is scheduled for a hearing July 31.
An upcoming hearing for McQuinn’s estate is scheduled for July 30.
