Probate Persecution
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When someone dies it can get messy with people fighting over their money and property. But this case includes allegations of A FAKE WIFE and PHONY DOCUMENTS.
Yes, Dolcefino Media is back at court to watch PROBATE PERSECUTION!
“Mr. Ditta, I do not lie,” said Valeriya Ruzynska.
“You’re a liar,” said Louis Ditta, attorney.
“Please keep your distance from me because, apparently, you’re threatening me right now. Step back,” Ruzynska told Ditta.
“I don’t understand. They’ve paid thousands of dollars out of the estate, many thousands of dollars out of the estate to themselves, but I can’t get him buried,” said Shiela Mitchell.
That’s right. In Sheila Mitchell’s hands is a black box full of her uncle’s cremated ashes.
David Brown was 72 years old when he died, but that was three years ago.
His family has been denied the money from his estate to bury him, even though he was worth more than three quarters of a million dollars.
“I have not been able to get him buried, even though I’ve contacted Louis Ditta, the administrator of the estate, many times. Over the last four months, he’s even just quit answering me altogether,” Mitchell said.
Ditta ignored our calls for weeks, but maybe he’s been busy.
He’s made more than $65,000 so far as administrator of this estate.
His biggest bill in February of this year, more than $12,000 in one month—four hundred bucks an hour.
We noticed his legal assistant is a lot cheaper, but she doesn’t get to do much.
But Mr. Ditta thinks he’s got us fooled.
“I appreciate you trying to make me look like an idiot but it’s not going to work,” said Brian Collister, reporter.
“I don’t have to make you look like an idiot, it’s obvious,” Ditta responded.
Ditta is just the kind of guy that makes me want to investigate probate courts a whole lot more.
“Like I said, it’s not going to work,” Collister said to Ditta.
“It already worked,” Ditta replied.
Not exactly, Louis.
After a couple of minutes, you reluctantly agreed to actually, maybe, help these people finally lay this guy to rest.
“The court has to approve whatever gets done, so I can’t make a decision today,” Ditta said.
Meet another big fan of Louis Ditta, Brown’s ex-wife, Valeriya Ruzynska.
“The administrator is not doing his job. He’s lazy, and ignorant, or he’s scheming, which is very highly suspicious to me,” said Ruzynska.
Ditta was appointed by Judge James Horwitz, probate court number four in Harris County.
He really likes the judge.
He didn’t give him any money when he ran for office, but boy once he got in, they were pals.
$1,500 the first month he was in office, and Ditta has given the judge $4,000 more just in this one probate fight.
The longer the fight, the bigger the legal bills.
“He used me for financial gain,” Ruzynska said.
Now, take a seat and watch Brown’s ex-wife get into with Ditta with our cameras rolling.
“You’re a liar,” Ditta said.
“You made many statements and allegations against me. And please keep your distance from me, because apparently, you’re threatening me, right now. Please step out a little bit because I don’t want you in my face. I do not want you in my space. Step back,” Ruzynska said.
Valeriya was married to David Brown for eight years, and during that time, she says Brown used her good credit to take out hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans.
“He started pressuring me into taking various loans towards the purchasing different properties or cars,” Ruzynska said.
When they divorced, the 22-acre commercial property they bought together when married, was never partitioned and was under a fifty-fifty ownership.
But, that’s not all: Valeriya was also given in the divorce 130 cars that were on his separate property, some of them very valuable classic cars that could be restored or salvaged.
But while Valeriya was trying to sell the property and cars, David Brown died and the estate has been tied up in court ever since.
But, I hate to tell Mr. Ditta he’s not the real star of this show—Elizabeth Green is, who we spotted sitting behind the chain link fence in a black car in the driveway.
Maybe she’s just camera shy.
“Elizabeth, will you talk to us? Why won’t you talk to us?” Collister asked.
Valeriya had never heard of Elizabeth Green until David died.
She rented and lived in a house on the property.
Here’s where this case gets even more interesting.
“So, she shows up about seven or eight days later claiming that she was David Brown’s common law wife,” Ruzynska told us.
When the medical examiner emailed Green to provide proof, she emailed back this single front page of what she claimed was Brown’s will.
In it, he left property he still shared with Valerie to Green, along with insurance policies and cash—pretty much everything.
“Coroner’s office determined that that proof was not enough,” Ruzynska said.
Valerie’s attorney even took Green’s sworn deposition in the on-going suit.
“Her story did not come together. She had many inconsistencies in her story,” Ruzynska said.
Including what she told the medical examiner, that she was Brown’s common law wife.
Let’s go to page 64, shall we?
“Did you ever assert to that person that emailed you or anybody else with the county that you were Mr. Brown’s wife?” Asked Ruzynska’s attorney.
“No,” Green replied.
But, that hasn’t stopped her from trying to profit off of Brown’s estate anyway.
Valerie found out Green was actually getting rid of some of the property that belonged to her.
“She was selling junk cars that belong to me and David,” Ruzynska told us.
These are pictures Valerie took when she showed up one day and several of the cars that belong to her were being towed away.
So, she called the cops.
The cops couldn’t do anything.
The guys towing the cars had a bill of sale and Elizabeth Green showed them that same will.
But, here’s something weird.
Nearly a year and a half later, Green walked into a Harris County probate court to file the will.
Let’s compare them, shall we?
They are not the same, but they both gave Elizabeth Green pretty much everything.
Valerie was stunned and more than a little suspicious.
“Immediately, I recognize that the signature was not David’s because of so many years of marriage,” Ruzynska said.
Valerie even hired a handwriting expert, Wendy Carlson, a certified document examiner.
“What is your assessment of the signature on the will in relation to whether or not it is David Brown’s?” Collister asked.
“It is not,” Carlson said.
“So, David Brown didn’t sign that will?” Asked Collister.
“Correct,” Carlson answered.
Look at what we found on this grieving widow’s Facebook page: lots of photos of her with her current husband.
A lovely couple, don’t you think?
But look at what she says about their nuptials: she says that she’s been married to Rene Lopez since 2020.
That’s weird, too.
David Brown died on March 18, 2021.
I wonder if he was invited to her wedding.
It all helps explains why Valerie is challenging the authenticity of the will in court.
But, in early May, Judge James Horowitz ruled Valerie had no legal standing to challenge the will.
A hearing was held in which the notary and two witnesses.
According to court records, one of the witnesses, Julia Ann Rios, turns out to be a convicted thief and forger, who now runs a legal marketing service.
A search of public records shows she once shared an address with Elizabeth Green’s husband, Rene Lopez.
We called her to talk, but she hung up us.
The second witness we discovered was Rios’ neighbor.
What a coincidence.
“I would like to have justice. And, it’s become a matter of principle to me because that’s how deep it’s hurt me and that’s how deep it’s distressed of my family,” Ruzynska said.
“What do you think of this judge?” Collister asked.
“The judge is biased against me, unfair, and unjust,” Ruzynska answered.
This estate fight has dragged on for more than three years.
At this recent hearing, Judge Horowitz ruled that Valerie can get the remaining cars off her ex husband’s property.
But, after Ditta reluctantly agreed to let her look for herself, we went along.
But, Valerie says most of the cars still valuable for restoration or salvage are now gone—sold off by Elizabeth Green.
“You don’t see your 130 cars?” Collister asked.
“No, not that I see so far, but I’m going to compare, definitely. But the most is 57, 60 vehicles on the property, total,” Ruzynska answered.
And Valerie blames our friend, Mr. Ditta, for not making sure that the property and cars she got in the divorce were secured, regardless how long they were left on the property.
“So administrators have not sealed the property like he should have. Basically, all the property mainly gone. The property has been vandalized or ransacked and gone. Just gone,” Ruzynska said.
“What do you say to Valerie who says: you’ve mishandled this, you haven’t secured the property, you haven’t investigated Miss Green, you haven’t maintained your fiduciary duty to the estate?” Collister asked.
Well, just like you, she doesn’t know what she’s talking about,” Ditta answered.
As for what she does now, she plans to appeal the judge’s rulings against her and go after Mr. Ditta for what she says is his mishandling of the estate of her ex husband.
“Is there anything you’d like to say to Wayne Dolcefino?” Collister asked.
“Looking forward to when this story is going to come out,” Ditta answered.
“I hope you got it on camera,” Ruzynska said.
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