Judge Waste of Space has retired

Judge David Belz has gone to greener pastures in the mediation business.

The recently retired Judge “Waste of Space” Belz

Judge David Bezl, who I affectionately call Judge Waste of Space, is now the recently retired Judge Waste of Space. Don’t feel bad, he landed on his feet with a cushy job.

Judge Waste of Space has been doing damage recently in Orange County’s probate system. An example of his astute stewardship of the courtroom is below.

He was part of the cabal of judges who kept Gustave Verdult in a temporary conservatorship for about five years.

He was also one of the judges who kept Marty Adair in an abusive conservatorship while court vultures fleeced her estate.

Sometimes vultures who feed on dead carcasses aren’t found in the side of the road, or the wild somewhere.

Many times, these vultures wear nice suits, graduate from top colleges, while holding occupations the average person would find respectable.

If you want to find some of these vultures, go to just about any probate court and sit in for a day.

I day that today, November 2, 2022, in the courtroom of Judge David Belz of the Orange County, California Probate Court Division.

I was there to catch up on the Adair case.

I first interviewed Jodee Sussman- whose parents, the Adair’s, were both in conservatorship- in March 2022.

Hers was one of several cases I covered showing corruption in Orange County’s (CA) probate system.

Conservatorship is the equivalent of guardianship in other states; it’s when a court determines that someone is not competent enough to handle their own affairs.

The dark side of conservatorship has received attention recently due to Brittney Spears.

The estate was drained; Jodee estimates there was well over $10 million when it started, and the court pronounced today there is $1.5 million left.

Worse yet, Jodee explained that the estate had to be put into a restructured bankruptcy. Here is more from my first article.

He’s also one of the judges who is allowing corrupt California attorney Sandra DeMeo to rob the Flint estate.

Judge David Belz of Orange County, California really is a waste of space.

I was observing a hearing in the Flint matter in his courtroom today.

I wrote about that last month. In that story, I showed how a corrupt lawyer named Sandra DeMeo had illegally withdrawn $40,000 from the Flint trust while two financial institutions- Bank of New York and Edward Jones- have refused to fix the issue.

The Flint trust is an ongoing saga, and DeMeo’s malfeasance is only one part.

The latest chapter is playing out in Judge David Belz’s courtroom, even as I write this, but my audience will not know- right away at least- what will happen because Judge Belz has contempt for open courtrooms.

How much contempt? Check out the video.

Judge Waste of Space is part of the cabal that Wayne Dolcefino- affectionately also- calls the Orange County probate mafia.

Don’t feel too sad for former Judge Waste of Space because he’s moving on to do mediation at Judicate West.

Judge Belz served on the Orange County Superior Court Bench for 15 years following 32 years as a trial attorney. During his years as a trial attorney, he handled a wide assortment of personal injury cases to trial and verdict in both state and federal courts. In 2009, he was appointed to the Orange County Superior Court. In January 2010, he was assigned to a family law courtroom where he handled a broad range of family law matters from initial petition to trial. Judge Belz says his five years in family court were some of the most meaningful years of his professional career. He was particularly interested in high-conflict custody and visitation cases and the toxic stress impact those cases have on children. He has written and taught on the subject of toxic stress and children. In 2016, Judge Belz was assigned to a probate courtroom where he handled various probate calendars. He was asked to handle the complex long-cause trust trials with a time estimate of more than 4 days. In the nine years on the probate panel, Judge Belz has handled trust, probate, guardianship, and conservatorship trials. As long-cause trial judge, he has handled 88 trust trials. He has presided over trust trials up to 22 days in length.

Judge Belz strongly believes in settlement. A graduate of the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution in December of 2000, Judge Belz began mediating cases during his years as a trial attorney from 2001 to 2009. He has handled several hundred mediations. A trial lawyer by trade, he enjoyed sitting as a bench officer in the long and complicated trust trials but strongly believes, with few exceptions, that every case can and should settle. Judge Belz's extensive trial experience with juries and as a bench trial officer has given him a keen insight into assessing the strengths and weaknesses of cases. Judge Belz understands the importance of patience, persistence, empathy, and trust in the mediation process.

Judicate West claimed that former Judge Waste of Space, “strongly believes in settlement.” That must be why the Verdult conservatorship has gone on for five years, why the Flint affair is going on about the long and why Marty Adair’s conservatorship only ended because she died…because Judge Waste of Space strongly believes in settlement.

I don’t know anything about Judicate West, but mediation firms are often nice landing spots for former judges where they can charge hundreds of dollars an hour for a quasi-judicial proceeding.

It’s like being a judge, only you make a lot more money. No wonder it’s such a good landing spot.

Oftentimes, the relationship between these mediation firms and the judiciary is a conflicted one, like in this story from Megan Fox at PJ Media about the Missouri judiciary.

Judge Douglas Beach and Judge Erin Burlison have skeletons in their closets, too. For instance, Beach is a former judge on the St. Louis County Circuit Court and now works at JAMS, a mediation company that Zellweger orders petitioners in her courtroom to use at the exorbitant price of $1,200 down and $450 an hour. A whistleblower attorney in St. Louis contacted PJ Media confidentially to tell the public what is really happening in St. Louis courts. This attorney with ten years of experience told PJM, “If a litigant cannot pay the amount ordered, a judge has contempt power to strike all the litigant’s pleadings from a case.” In other words, if you can’t pay for justice, you aren’t getting it. Is that what you thought justice was in America? Due process in Saint Louis County appears to be gasping for its last breath, if not dead.

It can be a revolving door between the judiciary and these mediation companies like JAMS and Judicate West. Judges often throw business to their former colleagues. I will continue to follow Judge Belz’s career.

Postscript:

Check out the previous articles on the series on Orange County. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8. Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18, Part 19, Part 20, Part 21, Part 22, Part 23, Part 24, Part 25. Part 26, Part 27, Part 28, Part 29, Part 30, Part 31, Part 33, Part 34, Part 35, Part 36, Part 37, Part 38, Part 39, Part 40, Part 41, Part 42, Part 43, Part 44, Part 45, Part 46, and Part 47.

Please consider contributing to the Orange County fundraiser so I can continue this investigation.