Hillsborough Clerk Pat Frank sues daughter in business dispute

TAMPA — Hillsborough Clerk of the Circuit Court Pat Frank is suing her daughter in a business dispute over the family’s real estate management company.

In a circuit court lawsuit filed last month, Frank alleges her daughter, Hillary Frank Aubin, 63, failed to turn over records and other company property after Frank said she fired her as manager of Collier Enterprises LLC in May.

Frank formed the company in 2005 with her eldest daughter, Stacy Frank, who passed away in 2016. Stacy Frank had served as managing member of Collier Enterprises, which owns a commercial strip center at 3841 W Kennedy Blvd. in Tampa. Aubin became part of the company through her late sister’s estate, according to the suit.

Aubin is not a member of the company, the suit states, leaving Frank as the firm’s exclusive authority “with the rights to participate in the management and conduct of the company’s activities and affairs, and had the sole authority to remove and replace the manager of the company.”

Aubin disagrees with Frank and maintains she is a member of the company, the suit said.

Aubin is listed as the only manager of Collier Enterprises on corporate records filed with the Florida Secretary of State’s Office from 2017 through earlier this year. An amended filing in June identified Frank as the manager.

Aubin managed the company’s affairs since 2016, But Frank said in the suit she “has not received a single distribution even though there has been more than sufficient cash to make distributions.

“Furthermore, since Ms. Aubin assumed the position of manager back in 2016, she has mostly ignored or refused to honor Mr. Frank’s multiple requests for company records and financials,” the suit states.

Frank terminated Aubin’s role in May, the suit states, and Aubin has refused to turn over financial records and other materials to Frank leaving her unable to manage the company.

Most notably, the suit states that “prior to Stacy C. Frank’s death, the company may have refinanced the debt on the property and used a portion of the proceeds thereof to loan the sum of $300,000 to Stacy C. Frank for her use in other business activities.’' Frank said she has not been provided information or documentation about the potential loan.

Frank and Aubin both declined comment on the suit.

Frank, 90, is nearing the conclusion of her fourth term as Hillsborough clerk of the circuit court and did not seek re-election in 2020.