Robert Houston Mullins’s request to learn what assets his father left him in a trust was met with a demand for the younger man to appear for a deposition and answer questions under oath, according to another lawsuit filed in connection with the estate of the late Dr. Fred Mullins.
The elder Mullins was the former medical director at Joseph M. Still Burn Center, and he also served as the chief executive officer of the company he helped create to extend burn and wound treatment across the country. Dr. Mullins died on June 14, 2020. In addition to leaving an estate, Dr. Mullins created trusts for his wife and two children.
Dr. Mullins’ will appointed his brother, Dewitt Franklin (Frank) Mullins, as the executor of his estate and as trustee of the three trusts.
Frank Mullins was recently forced to step down from the Burn and Reconstructive Centers of America after Dr. Mullins’ former business partners and the JMS Burn Center at Doctors Hospital sought the court’s assistance for what they alleged was the downward financial spiral of the company.
MORE: Burn center doctor’s son seeks control over trust
Chief Judge Daniel J. Craig appointed a new executive officer last month to run the Burn and Reconstructive Centers of America pending the conclusion of the litigation.
Dr. Mullins also had two other companies. He served as the general partner of a limited liability company, MFP Holdings, and he was the sole owner of Fury’s River LLC.
After Dr. Mullins’ death, in addition to becoming the executor of his estate, trustee for the three trusts, and. until last month. the chief executive of the Burn and Reconstructive Centers of America, Frank Mullins also took control of MFP Holdings and Fury’s River.
Last month, Robert Houston Mullins filed a petition seeking to change his trust so that he may decide who should be the trustee. According to a Richmond County Superior Court lawsuit file on his behalf Thursday, Aug. 4, Houston Mullins asked his uncle last month for information about his trust’s assets, and he filed a petition in the Columbia County Probate County seeking an accounting of his father’s estate.
Instead of a response to the requests, Houston Mullins received a notice from Frank Mullins’ attorneys that he must appear on Aug. 2 to be deposed, according to the lawsuit. In an attached motion seeking a protective order, his attorneys wrote:
“The sought-after deposition is made for the purpose of annoyance, oppression and placing an undue burden and expense upon Robert Houston Mullins. (He petitioned for information about his father’s estate) because he lacks full information concerning the estate, and no accounting has been made by the estate’s executor … for over two years…”
According to the lawsuit, within months of Dr. Mullins’ death, Frank Mullins used Houston Mullins’ and his sister’s trusts to buy controlling interest in the Burn and Reconstructive Centers of America. Dr. Mullins’ widow opposed that purchase and asked for an accounting of Dr. Mullins’ estate in July 2021. But no accounting has been provided to her or the Probate Count, according to the lawsuit.
Frank Mullins also sold half interest in Fury’s River LLC to each of his niece’s and nephew’s trusts, according to the lawsuit.
Houston Mullins contends in the lawsuit the only financial information he has gained about his trust and his father’s estate has come out of the litigation involving Frank Mullins, and public information about Frank Mullins’ recent land purchases.
Frank Mullins, according to the lawsuit, used MFP Holdings — of which Houston Mullins now owns 50 percent — to buy a 98.8-acre tract of land for more than $1.48 million. The Aiken property is directly across the road from land owned by the Aiken Steeplechase Association. Frank Mullins is president of the board of directors of that association.
The second purchase was for 6.98 acres of unimproved commercial property on Whiskey Road in Aiken that Frank Mullins paid $700,000 for, using MFP Holdings’ assets. The lawsuit also states that in addition to land purchases, Frank Mullins has put other property owned by the trust or MFP Holdings up for sale.
The lawsuit alleges that Frank Mullins’ refusal to make an accounting of the trust and Dr. Mullins’ estate is a breach of his fiduciary obligations. It further contends that Houston Mullins “is entitled to a trustee who will not engage in self-dealing, self-interested transactions, and/or transactions which either appear or actually are conflicts of interests.”
In Columbia County Probate Court, a consent order was signed last month that alters the language of the three trusts Dr. Mullins created for his immediate family members. Frank Mullins may now receive additional compensation for services provided for any of the corporations, partnerships, limited liability companies or other organizations.
The July 20 consent order also frees Frank Mullins of any inherent and inexorable conflicts of interests, any potential or perceived conflict of interest, and of self-dealing.
The order states that Dr. Mullins gave his brother broad, conflicting fiduciary powers and duties that allow self-dealing and conflicts of interests. His exercise of those powers does not in itself mean he has violated his loyalty and fidelity, nor can such actions be questioned, according to the order.
The order, signed by Judge Alice Padgett, is stamped as being presented by Frank Mullins’ law firms Trotter Jones, and Arnall Golden Gregory. Neither law firm represents Dr. Mullins’ widow or Houston Mullins.
Sandy Hodson is a staff reporter covering courts for The Augusta Press. Reach her at sandy@theaugustapress.com.
