Supreme Court of Florida ____________ No. SC16-1773 ____________ THE FLORIDA BAR, Complainant, vs. MADSEN MARCELLUS, JR., Respondent. [July 19, 2018] PER CURIAM. We have for review a referee’s report recommending that Respondent, Madsen Marcellus, Jr., be found guilty of professional misconduct and suspended from the practice of law for one year. We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 15, Fla. Const. We approve the referee’s findings of fact and recommendations as to guilt, but disapprove the referee’s recommended sanction, and instead suspend Madsen Marcellus, Jr., from the practice of law for eighteen months, as set forth below. BACKGROUND The Florida Bar (the Bar) filed a complaint with the Court alleging that Respondent, Madsen Marcellus, Jr., violated various Rules Regulating the Florida Bar (Bar Rules). The case was referred to a referee, and the referee filed his report with the Court. Both Marcellus and the Bar sought review of the referee’s report. The referee made the following findings of fact in his report. Marcellus was a party to dissolution of marriage proceedings that were initiated in 2009; the final hearing in the case took place in November 2009 and the Final Order on Petition for Dissolution of Marriage and Other Relief (Final Order) was issued on April 23, 2010. As reflected in the Final Order, the family court ordered Marcellus and his ex-wife, Kellie Peterson Gudger, to either refinance the marital home into solely Marcellus’s name within thirty days of that hearing or sell the home. Although there was conflicting testimony at the final hearing before the referee, the referee found that Marcellus vacated the marital home sometime during the pendency of the divorce, and that the couple had arranged for sale of the home. Two days prior to the closing, after Gudger vacated the house and completed her portion of the paperwork for the sale of the home, Marcellus moved back into the home and refused to complete his portion of the paperwork; as a result, the sale fell through. Thereafter Marcellus refused to leave the home. After Marcellus reinhabited the home, he made several attempts to refinance the mortgage into his name alone. However, he was unable to do so based on his income. In March 2010, Marcellus pursued another mortgage modification, this time with the help of a family friend, Curt Francis. Marcellus and Francis testified that -2- while applying for the mortgage modification, Marcellus contacted Gudger and asked her to apply for the modification with him, but she refused. Francis told Marcellus that he would call Gudger and convince her to sign the document. Francis left the room as if to call her, and returned shortly thereafter indicating that Gudger had agreed to allow him to execute the mortgage modification on her behalf. Francis signed the document, purportedly on Gudger’s behalf, and notarized the signature which he himself affixed to the document. Marcellus knew that Francis signed the document and notarized his own signature. However, contrary to assertions by Marcellus and Francis, Gudger testified that neither Marcellus ...
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