Complaint Review: Matt Busby - Illinois Harrisburg

It has been nothing but one thing after another with my Matt Busby since I became executor of our dad's small estate earlier this year. He was originally an executor, but he was overthrown by his sister Sarah Blackmon in October since he was a felon. Our dad passed away in September 2021. Sarah Blackmon, Dwight Busby, and his girlfriend Cathy McLain came down to Harrisburg, Illinois from Alabama for the burial.

Matt and the others practically made a circus out of my dad's death. It sickened me when Matt decided to dress our dad in a dirty dress shirt and gray sweatpants. He never wanted him to have an obituary either. Not only was he overthrown as an executor, but Sarah and the others loaded a van and 16-ft trailer with practically everything my dad owned. This went against our dad's will since everything was to be split evenly.

To make a long backstory short, I had to overthrow Sarah as an executor since she wasn't competent.  Turns out that she stole $8,000 from an old man in Lucedale, Mississippi. Because of this, the judge decided that she wasn't responsible when it came down to money.

 Fast forward: I believe Matt felt like he could still be an executor through me. When I don't agree with him on something, he will ignore me for days without returning my texts or phone calls. Other days, he will agree that something is a good idea and then turn around and completely change his tune. He's very wishy-washy, paranoid, and quick-tempered.

He has always had a temper, but nothing like this. I can't help but wonder at times if he still has a hardcore drug addiction based on his behavior and actions. I never know what to expect from him. Matt doesn't seem to have a very good history with women and is quick to refer to them as degrading names (c*nt, wh*re, b*tch, etc) - even his own daughter Katelin.

His daughter refuses to have anything to do with him because of this. I can understand why two different people (his ex Emily Waller and a neighbor) have filed a protection order against him these past couple of years. It was February 27th when he finally admitted that he hit Sarah back in September even though he had denied it to the police during that time. He even went into grisly details about how badly he wanted to beat her up. I was very disturbed and so was my husband. 

 I come to Harrisburg at least once a week (sometimes twice) and it has been mostly stressful every time Matt is there since he often interferes with one's work. Every time someone does something (i.e. painting), he often feels the need to make snide comments and go over them instead of letting them finish their job. My mom has helped with some of the painting and she isn't benefiting from this in any way. The other person is a professional in his line of work (excluding his name since I want to give him anonymity online) and has been nothing but a blessing when it comes to home repairs. He has been helping me since I can't always rely on Matt. Matt gets into his own world and forgets about priorities unless it involves quick money. When our dad was alive, he’d charge him for every little thing, so this doesn’t really come as a surprise.

 When the estate was broken into and vandalized in February, the person that has been helping me was able to rewire the areas where the vandals cut into and patch those areas. This person set up the bathroom vanity recently that Matt was supposed to set up back in February. In the beginning, the only thing Matt did was take the vanity out of the box, patched some drywall (which takes half an hour to do), and claimed that he did 8 hours of work. This person has done a lot whereas the only things Matt has done so far are some priming, painting (over other people's work), and clearing out most of the junk in the garage. He hasn't finished the latter. 

On March 30th, I was surprised to find his trailer with an organ on it parked in the garage. A neighbor paid Matt $50 to haul off the organ, in which Matt paid the person that has been helping about $10 to place it on the trailer on the 24th. Matt had called me later on that day, asking me if I knew anyone who wanted to buy an organ for $100.  He didn't tell me or this person that he was going to park it in the garage and it will be in there 6 days later.

When I called Matt on March 30th to take it off the property and bring my cameras, he claimed to be sick and hung up on me. I changed the locks again that day since I felt like Matt has been trying to take advantage of the estate. While both can be easily replaced, he has been holding a key to our dad’s truck and house deed hostage.

 He has been wanting $500 to be deducted from his inheritance for the junk, which I didn't have any issues with since the junk needed to be cleared away in order to get the garage cleaned. I feel like that was generous of me on my part, especially since I now believe that he will be profiting 2x more than $500. He is most likely going to scrap the metal, sell parts (i.e. from the broken-down riding lawnmowers), and keep some things. If $500 is going to be deducted from his inheritance, I believe what he sells for profit should go to the estate.  

Matt will start on a project but doesn’t always finish it unless it’s to go over someone’s work (i.e painting). He will blame things on his ADHD for not getting things done. This is a poor excuse for a man his age. 80% of the time, he’s getting high off something he refers to as dab and complaining about people, such as his ex, who have wronged him rather than doing the work I asked him to do. I didn’t ask him to paint at all since I was doing it. However, he expects to be paid immediately and I have told him that none of us (the executor and beneficiaries) are to be paid anything until the probate process is over.

Paying immediately can deplete the estate bank, especially when there are bills that need to be paid before the home is placed on the market. I had asked him last month to work on the yard (clearing the brush, which is something he had brought up a couple of months ago; mowing the grass, and power washing the house) as well as clearing out the rest of the junk in the garage and he hasn’t done any of this. I told him that we can get a lot accomplished if we spread out the work instead of multiple people doing the same job.

One of Matt's jobs was to help set up the motion sensor security light outdoors. He placed it on the side of the garage, but Matt claimed that the floodlights wouldn't come on. Even though the floodlights weren't working correctly, he thought it would be okay to still keep them. He said that the blinking red and blue lights would be a good enough deterrent at night.

I explained to him that this meant that the camera part of the motion sensor lights was trying to connect to WiFi. Considering the cost ($99) of these lights and getting the internet to help these security lights to serve their purpose (WiFi compatible security), I told them that we needed to exchange the floodlights since it sounds like it has a defect. I'd later realize that Matt simply didn't know how to install the thing.

 When he brought back my security cameras on April 4th, he failed to bring the box for the Merkury (the brand) motion sensor lights. He claimed that I threw it away, which isn't true since he had the box the whole time. If I had the box, I wouldn't have thrown it away since I wanted to exchange it at the time.  Not only was the box missing, but the SD card that came with it is missing.  

He told me that we didn't have to have security cameras, because there was nothing to steal. While there's nothing to steal, it's still a good idea to watch the home since vacant homes can make an easy target for vandals. Our lawyer pointed this out to him as well. Honestly, that is a major red flag to me since it sounds like he has something to hide.

 I have gone above and beyond as an executor for the estate without much appreciation from any of the beneficiaries, especially Matt. Not to mention all of the time I have put into this. Some of the things I have purchased to benefit the estate have come from my own bank account, including the deadbolt locks that I purchased recently (cost over $60). Let's not forget about gas!

The person that has been helping me rekeyed the bottom locks for me to help save time and money. I felt that this was a necessity to do since it seems like Matt was the one that (or had someone do it on his behalf) break into the garage, steal the Permobil M1 power wheelchair, rummage through the truck, and vandalize the house.

 Matt casually explained to the person that has been helping with the estate repairs on March 24th how one could easily break into the house. He stated that the weakest spot on a certain door in the house and how it could get broken into. He further explained that the reason why someone would have vandalized the place was to be vindictive.  Ironically, Matt never mentioned the door theory to me.

He appeared baffled as I was and thought it would be a bad idea to change the locks and didn't want me to do so. However, about a couple of weeks before that statement, he did say how one could easily get in the garage without a key or remote. I found that statement to be very off-putting, especially since he has had a past history of burglarizing. Prior to my husband checking on the home on February 25th, Matt was mostly giving me the silent treatment - not answering texts or calls since he was upset about me suggesting to talk to you if he'd be able to do any paid work for the estate. I think what really provoked him was that I changed the locks.  I felt that this was a ploy to manipulate his way back in.

 When I made more changes to the locks recently, the signage I left on the storm door had been ripped off. I had written that no one can gain any entry unless they have my permission. The dog bowl that belonged to Matt’s dog was also gone, indicating that he had been there. It appeared someone made an attempt to break in the front door - unsuccessfully. This wasn’t like this before. 

 With that being said, I can't help but be concerned with his intentions with the truck. He has mentioned hiding the truck, because he's afraid that his brother was going to come down and steal it. He even said that his brother wasn't through, making me wonder should I be more worried about his brother or him?

He feels like it is his call to go to a junkyard to get tires and rims, and then go to a dealership to get a price quote. I expressed to him several times that it wasn't his responsibility unless I gave him permission. I told Matt that I want to focus on one thing at a time and the house was my main priority. I also told him that we should wait to hear back from you or their lawyer about the tires and rims that the others took before trying to do that ourselves. He wants to get this thing over with quickly so he can move to the next legal matter (getting custody of his son).

 Things got so out of hand with Matt since he was coming up with so many crazy theories - that were most likely drug-induced. If I was truly out to get him, I’d have told his girlfriend how he was going through all of her Facebook messages from the phone that she sold him. On April 4th, I got his trailer out of the garage and the rest of his stuff out of the house. I then texted him to come with his things. There weren't any plans for any confrontation. 

I was just fed up with his behavior. I left everything that belonged to him outside yet he felt the need to have a police escort.  When Matt brought the police with him to retrieve his things from the porch, he scared my 4-year-old by stomping on the ramp and being very argumentative. My toddler was so scared that he ran inside the house and locked me out.  Meanwhile, Matt was accusing me of stealing his mail.

I'm not sure if he was referring to my dad's mail or mail that his crazy uncle Kenny (I refused to claim kin)  sent him that he received and often showed me. I recall him telling me a few months ago that he didn't want me to change address since he didn't believe my dad would be receiving any more mail. I went ahead and filed a change of address on February 9th just in case any bills came in. It seems like there may have been an interference since my dad's mail hasn't been coming in until very recently when I filed another change of address.

I filed one online this time, which I was charged for, on my own dime. I'm still not receiving all of the mail, though, since Matt has some of my dad's mail going to his post office box instead. Even though I changed all of the information with his utilities, proof of payment of the water bill went to Matt's post office box recently. I told him none of the bills or anything that relates to them should be going to his post office box since that doesn't help keep me organized.

 Matt has been wanting me to put the house on the market without going through a real estate agency. I try to do things professionally as possible and I told him that I was going to contact the real estate agent that you recommended. He much rather show the house himself than a real estate agent, plus he thinks it would be more profitable that way since he doesn't want a real estate agent to be paid any commission.

 Another reason why Matt is upset with me is that he has been pressuring me to contact the Shawnee Rose Nursing Care Center to release medical records to find out if our dad died of Covid or not. The reason is that Tammy Lang Hall, his girlfriend, read that families can be reimbursed up to $20,000 for funeral arrangements. The thing is that our dad didn't have a funeral - just a burial. It was paid for by our dad's church, Apostolics of Wasson.

I confirmed this with the funeral home (Colonial Terrace in Eldorado) recently since Matt kept saying that the burial wasn't fully paid. I have talked to the pastor and he never mentioned us owing any money either. All Matt has been doing since October is trying to get me to sue our dad's church, but I told him time and time again that I have no reason to sue them.  Matt is always saying how he isn't doing this for money yet it seems all thinks about is trying to glean money from people.

 I recently reached out to another brother of ours about how the house progress was going. I also mentioned to him how Matt has been acting lately, but it sounds like Matt has him believing that I can pay him $400 (this is his second time asking) for coming down from Georgia when I appeared in court. Therefore, the brother seems to be pretty upset with me about it even though I told him I cannot use the estate bank for that purpose and that Matt should have never told him anything like that.

I asked Matt last month when the brother first asked and he said he forgot to mention it to me about promising him $400 out of the estate bank. I believe that Matt should pay him that amount on his own dime if that's what he promised him.  Our brother demanded to know how much is in the bank and proof of how the money was being used, making it sound like I was using the bank account for my personal usage.

I'm not sure what else Matt has said to him, but it seems like none of them understand the purpose of the estate bank and how I have to keep account of everything. I keep a receipt of everything, especially of the materials that were purchased for repairs. I have my own bank account and certainly don't need anyone else's money! 

Matt has a control issue and it's very challenging to reason with him about anything since it's becoming more and more obvious that he has a deep-seated problem. He sees that I'm not an easy person to manipulate and he perceives that as a threat to his ego. He is on disability and he owns a few properties as well as his motorcycle under different peoples’ names to avoid losing his benefits. For example, his motorcycle is under his girlfriend’s name (Tammy Lang Hall.

(He also makes money doing odd jobs under the table. He claims that he can’t work because of his kidney disease, but yet, he’s often working odd jobs. He just doesn’t want to pay taxes. SSA would have a field day with this guy!  It's very challenging when a beneficiary chooses not to get along with the executor. It has been challenging for me to talk to the other heirs since all they can do is make derogatory remarks against me. They act like they should have their inheritance money right now. That’s not how a probate process works!

As of May 12th, Matt made death threats against me and a sister. He's not playing with a full deck. As much as he talks about his ex doing him wrong, Matt has no business trying to take her to court to get full custody of his son. His son doesn't need to see what Matt has become: a vindictive leech that has a deep hatred for women. Women are inferior to them and he will try his best to grind them down since he feels deeply insecure about himself.