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DETROIT, May 17 (UPI) -- A Michigan lawyer claimed in a petition that a probate judge and two court-appointed lawyers conspired to drain the Rosa Parks' estate of cash. Attorney Stephen G. Cohen said Wayne County Probate Judge Freddie Burton Jr. had conspired with probate lawyers John Chase Jr. and Melvin Jefferson Jr., allowing them to accumulate more than $507,000 in mostly unnecessary legal fees from Parks' estate, the Detroit Free Press reported.
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Paying the legal fees drained the estate of its cash and left it $88,000 in debt, the Free Press said.
"Chase and Jefferson, together with Judge Burton, illegally, maliciously and wrongfully conspired ... for the illegal purpose of raiding Mrs. Parks' estate of its value," Cohen said in a probate petition.
He requested a jury trial in probate court and that Burton remove himself from presiding over the Parks' estate.
Jefferson called Cohen's claims a "great fabrication," The Detroit News reported.
"Anything Mr. Chase and I have done, we've done according to court order, and I highly contest this matter," Jefferson said.
He said Burton "has handled himself in an exemplary manner."
Chase did not return a call seeking comment, the Free Press said.
Burton said he could not comment and deferred comment to Wayne County Chief Probate Judge Milton L. Mack Jr. Mack declined comment, pointing out he would hear a petition if Burton decides against removing himself from the case.
Parks, who died in 2005 in Detroit, became a well-known figure in the civil rights movement when she refused to give up her seat to a white man on a segregated Montgomery, Ala., bus in 1955.
Parks left most of her estate to the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute, which Cohen represents.
Parks' nieces and nephews contested her estate and a confidential agreement gave them 20 percent of the property and royalties from licensing her name. The rest went to the institute and Elaine Steele, Parks' longtime assistant and caregiver.
