Trust Fund Spending Defense
Thursday, June 25th, 2009 at 5:12 am
Dan Winkler spent over five hours on a witness stand on Tuesday to answer questions about using donations from Huntingdon Church Christ Fund in caring for his granddaughters. Attorneys for Mary Winkler, the children’s mother, filed a motion that says legal expenses for Dan should be paid back because donations for this fund were primarily solicited to care for and provide future education for the Winkler children.
Mary was convicted of manslaughter for the 2006 killing of Matthew Winkler, her minister husband and also the children’s father. In the court, Dan said that $226,525.26 was collected in Huntingdon fund and $215,341.75 worth of expenses was withdrawn from this account. “The current account balance according to records is $11,183.51 because I don’t think more funds were deposited into it,” he testified.
He was co-signatory on the account during the grandchildren’s care, and the church elders informed him that he needs to be taken off it because the funds are being used for attorney’s fees. Winkler defended himself by saying that the money goes to litigation - he sued Mary to terminate her parental rights so that he (and his wife) could raise the children. He also said that he never withdrew money from the family trust fund; he just made withdrawals from the account in Huntingdon to reimburse the expenses incurred for the children.
Tags: attorneys, Dan Winkler, Family Trust, Huntingdon, Mary Winkler, Matthew Winkler, trust fund