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Sudden Wealth, the ‘Family Destroyer’: Michael Hackard in Think Advisor
ThinkAdvisor’s Jane Wollman Rusoff, who has previously interviewed Michael Hackard on elder financial abuse and trust litigation issues, has just released a new case study that’s a sobering lesson in wealth managment – and also a reminder of how family legacies can quickly disappear without care and vigilance. In her latest piece, investment advisor David E. Siegel shares the cautionary tale of “Mary,” a nurse’s aide and single mother who received a $2.6 million legal settlement after being diagnosed with a fatal heart-and-lung disorder caused by fen-phen, a weight-loss drug. In 1999 doctors gave her five years to live — she lived more than a decade longer, but the financial and emotional fallout of her windfall proved devastating.
Siegel, now 74 and co-founder and senior partner of Lighthouse Strategic Advisors in Sacramento (an LPL Financial affiliate), was tasked with helping Mary manage money she never expected to have while coping with a terminal diagnosis. He paid off her debts, built a three-bucket investment portfolio (cash, bonds, equities), and set a 5% distribution rate to generate roughly $75,000 in annual income. But the 2008-2009 financial crisis, mounting medical costs, family loan requests, and Mary’s own emotional unraveling — including depression, substance abuse, and extravagant spending — steadily eroded her nest egg.
Mary’s relationship with her young adult daughter, Laura, who became her caregiver, grew strained as Mary’s health and mental state declined. An irrevocable gift trust set up to help Mary qualify for Medicaid and pass on remaining funds to Laura backfired: after five years, Laura took control of the trust, withdrew the roughly $500,000 left in it, and severed the advisory relationship — leaving Mary to spend her final years in an assisted living facility with virtually no net worth, reliant on Social Security and Medicaid.
Despite the fractured relationship with Laura, Siegel remained by Mary’s side, providing financial guidance and emotional support without compensation until her death in 2016.
The article also features commentary from Michael Hackard, who litigated Mary’s fen-phen suit along with numerous others, including a related class action. Hackard praised Siegel’s dedication, calling his efforts “extraordinarily heroic” and noting that he “never forgot about her” and was “looking at the whole person.” Hackard is also the author of Stolen Inheritance: How the Vulnerable Lose Their Estates — and What Families Can Do, a book that explores how vulnerable individuals — including those suddenly wealthy, elderly, or ill — often lose control of their assets, sometimes through family betrayal or exploitation, echoing many of the same themes present in Mary’s story.
Siegel’s takeaway: sudden money, without careful guidance, can become “a family destroyer.”
Michael Hackard is the founder of Hackard Law, a California trust and estate litigation firm with more than five decades of experience protecting the inheritance rights of families across Sacramento, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Los Angeles. He is the author of six published books on inheritance protection and has produced more than 1,000 educational videos with over seven million views.