A Boca Raton lawyer’s emergency suspension for allegedly stealing $450,000 from his mother’s trust fund (and forging documents to hide it) shines the light on an intrafamily feud.

Brandon Labiner is the aforementioned suspended lawyer. He’s being sued by his father, Paul Labiner, who alleges Brandon stole from a trust fund he set up for his wife, Brandon’s mother. The Florida Bar said an investigation backed up Paul Labiner’s claims and successfully petitioned for Brandon’s emergency suspension.

Brandon denies everything and says he’s filed a Bar complaint that is still pending saying Paul stole from Brandon’s personal injury firm to replace the money lost to a bookkeeper’s embezzlement.

The only person dealing with criminal charges? The bookkeeper.

A criminal complaint in the case, which moved from Fort Lauderdale federal court to New Jersey federal court, says Margate’s Janet Blissett embezzled $3 million from the Boca Raton law firm for which she worked. Brandon Labiner told the Miami Herald that Boca Raton law firm is the one he shared with his father, and that Paul stole from Brandon to replace the money embezzled by Blissett.

So, for those scoring at home: One family, two lawyers, two Bar complaints, one civil suit in Palm Beach County, one federal criminal complaint, one drained trust fund, one suspended lawyer and one bookkeeper criminally charged.

Dad sues son

Paul Labiner’s lawsuit said he set up a Spousal Lifetime Access Trust (SLAT) for his wife in December 2021 and installed Brandon as the Trustee. At the time, the two worked together in the law firm Paul started, Paul doing estate planning and corporate law, Brandon handling the side called the Personal Injury & Accident Law Center.

The lawsuit blames Brandon’s work ethic and “subpar performance as a plaintiff’s attorney” for shrinking the personal injury business