Huntsville attorney Annary Aytch Cheatham was disbarred from the practice of law in the State of Alabama by Order of the Supreme Court of Alabama, effective April 1, 2019. The…
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Date: 4/1/2019
Discipline Imposed: Disbarred
Description:
Huntsville attorney Annary Aytch Cheatham was disbarred from the practice of law in the State of Alabama by Order of the Supreme Court of Alabama, effective April 1, 2019. The Supreme Court entered its order based on the Disciplinary Board’s Order wherein Cheatham was found guilty of violating Rules 1.1 [Competence], 1.4 [Communication], 1.8(a) [Conflict of Interest: Prohibited Transactions], and 8.4(c) and (g) [Misconduct], Ala. R. Prof. C. In 2009, after a son satisfied a mortgage, the son’s father agreed to have the title to the home transferred to the son. Cheatham was retained to have a title transferred from the father’s name into the son’s name. Cheatham informed them they first needed to execute a quit claim deed transferring the home from the father to one of Cheatham’s businesses, Cheatham Group, LLC. Cheatham informed the son that she would then execute a statutory warranty deed from her business to him. In July of 2009, Cheatham had the father execute a quit claim deed in which the home was deeded from the father to Cheatham Group, LLC. That same day, Cheatham had the son sign a fraudulent settlement statement indicating that the son had paid the Cheatham Group, LLC $80,000.00 to purchase the property. Cheatham subsequently failed to deed the home from her business to the son. In January of 2011, a federal tax lien was placed on the son’s property for approximately $22,000.00. At the time, the property was still recorded in the name of the Cheatham Group, LLC. The federal tax lien was issued against the Cheatham Group, LLC for unpaid payroll and employment taxes. Only after the tax lien had been filed on the property did Cheatham file a statutory warranty deed transferring the property from the Cheatham Group, LLC to the son. In 2012, the son began attempting to sell the property and only then learned a federal tax lien had been filed against the property. The son contacted Cheatham in an effort to get her to resolve the tax lien so he could sell the property. Cheatham repeatedly assured him that she was working to resolve the lien with the IRS and through her bankruptcy proceeding. However, Cheatham’s Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition was dismissed in May of 2013 for her failure to appear. Cheatham texted the son and informed him she was awaiting a court order and would be moving forward with resolving the debt with the IRS. Cheatham did not inform him that her bankruptcy petition had been dismissed. Cheatham offered to sign a repayment agreement if the son chose to sell the property and use the sale proceeds to satisfy the tax lien on her behalf. Relying on Cheatham’s promise to repay him, the son used the sale proceeds from his home to satisfy Cheatham’s federal tax lien in the amount of $22,131.79. Cheatham subsequently agreed to repay him $1,000.00 a month beginning in August of 2013. However, Cheatham failed to do so. Cheatham agreed to repay him a lump sum payment amount of $15,000.00 by December 15, 2013.