Attorney: ‘ There won’t be much’ money left for Dulos children

FARMINGTON — Attorneys for Jennifer Dulos’ mother are asking the court to turn over any personal property owned by Fotis Dulos’ high-end real estate development company to pay off a $1.9 million lawsuit judgment.

In June, Gloria Farber, who has been caring for the five Dulos children since her daughter vanished in May 2019, won a civil lawsuit she filed against Fotis Dulos for unpaid business loans her family made to his company, Fore Group.

However, Fotis Dulos was nearly bankrupt when he died in January from an apparent suicide while he faced murder and other charges in the death and disappearance of his estranged wife.

“I’m trying to collect anything I can for this poor woman,” Farber’s attorney, Richard Weinstein, said in an interview with Hearst Connecticut Media.

Weinstein is also seeking to add $600,000 to the amount Farber is owed by Fotis Dulos’ estate as part of a foreclosure action on his Farmington home.

Since the estate is in probate proceedings, Farber has not received any of the money. The estate is basically insolvent with all the properties owned by Fotis Dulos and the Fore Group in foreclosure proceedings, Weinstein said.

Farber and her grandchildren will likely not receive anything from the estate, Weinstein said.

“Any amount that we can recover will be for the children, but there won’t be much after legal fees are paid,” he said. “It’s a shame.”

Weinstein is seeking any personal property owned by the Fore Group such as construction equipment or other items used in the business to help pay off the $1.7 million award for the unpaid business loans. The judge also awarded Farber nearly $200,000 for the personal loan that was used to build Fotis Dulos’ home at 4 Jefferson Crossing in Farmington.

Fotis Dulos and his girlfriend Michelle Troconis were living in the home when Jennifer Dulos disappeared. Troconis and Kent Mawhinney, an attorney who originally represented Fotis Dulos in Farber’s lawsuit, have each pleaded not guilty to charges in the case.

In addition to the $500,000 personal loan, Farber and her late husband Hilliard put up $2.4 million in family assets so Fotis and Jennifer Dulos could build the home, court documents show.

Farber paid off the mortgage in July 2019 as police were searching for her daughter after Fotis Dulos stopped paying the mortgage in November 2018, according to court documents.

Farber ’s foreclosure request on the home was approved last month. Weinstein is also asking the court to add nearly $ 600,000 to the amount the estate owes his client since the mortgage was for $ 2 .4 million, but the property is now valued at $ 1.9 million.

The estate is also owed a sum of money from criminal defense attorneys Norm Pattis and Kevin Smith, who took a $250,000 retainer from Fotis Dulos two weeks before his death, according to court filings.

Weinstein and the estate have filed lawsuits against Pattis and Smith, seeking to recoup some of the money. The reimbursement for the retainer is slated to be one of several topics discussed during a probate hearing on Oct. 22.

The Farmington Probate Court judge is also scheduled to hear arguments on whether Jennifer Dulos can be declared legally dead. The administrator of the estate needs a determination that Jennifer Dulos predeceased her estranged husband to gain access to a $194,000 Individual Retirement Account — which appears to be the only solvent asset owned by Fotis Dulos when he died.