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Estate Planning Will Contest

Estate Planning is a process where individuals prepare or plan for the settlement of their personal affairs in the event of incapacitation or death. Estate plans typically include provisions relating to the... more +
Estate Planning is a process where individuals prepare or plan for the settlement of their personal affairs in the event of incapacitation or death. Estate plans typically include provisions relating to the disposition of assets, guardianship of minor children, and appointment of representatives to make medical and financial decisions. Effective estate planning can decrease tax liability and facilitate the probate process.  less -
Stark & Stark

What is Undue Influence in the Context of a Will Contest?

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During a Will contest, a party challenging a Will may assert that the Will was the product undue influence being exerted over the decedent by the party who benefited by the disputed Will. The question arises: What is what is...more

Dunlap Bennett & Ludwig PLLC

A Probate Checklist For Executors Of A Will

Probate, the legal process of administering a deceased person’s estate, can be complex and challenging. During this process, a court determines whether a Will is authentic and valid and then distributes the estate to heirs or...more

Dunlap Bennett & Ludwig PLLC

Why Should I Work With A Probate Litigation Attorney?

If you expect to face disputes over the allocation of your loved one’s estate, retaining a probate litigation attorney might be the right choice. Here’s what you need to know about hiring an experienced attorney who can help...more

Hendershot Cowart P.C.

Alternatives to Litigation in a Will Contest or Probate Dispute

When conflict arises in the settling of an estate – especially a high-net-worth estate – the parties involved may look to the courts to help resolve the dispute. Litigation is one way to settle probate disputes, but it is...more

Patton Sullivan Brodehl LLP

Strict Notice Is A Must To Trigger Deadlines For Will Contests

It is a standard requirement in Probate Court disputes that the parties strictly adhere to the rules regarding notice of relief sought to all potential heirs and beneficiaries. The recent decision of Bailey v. Bailey...more

Fox Rothschild LLP

Terms of Estrangement: Should Your Estate Documents Be “Saying More.”

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Beginning in 2020 a new topic entered the estate planning world based on studies done at Cornell University. Cornell started what they call a “Family Reconciliation Project” and in 2021 they published data indicating that in...more

Downey Brand LLP

Aretha Franklin Makes Us “Think” About Handwritten Wills

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Earlier this month, a Michigan jury considered whether handwriting in a spiral notebook found under a couch cushion at singer Aretha Franklin’s home constituted her valid last will. Franklin had written and signed the...more

Bowditch & Dewey

When to Include a No-Contest Clause in a Will or Trust

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One of the many reasons for executing a Will and Trust is to make your wishes clear and prevent animosity among family members or other beneficiaries after your death. However, there are circumstances in which it is clear to...more

Burns & Levinson LLP

Challenging a Will: What We Can Learn From Priscilla Presley

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Elvis Has Left the Building - In 1977, when Elvis Presley died (to put a complicated situation very simply), his estate and any future royalties generated by his intellectual property, including his music, passed into a...more

Fox Rothschild LLP

Are You Sentencing Your Kids to Years of Litigation? You May Say “No” but Your Estate Plan May Say “Yes.”

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On March 2, 2023 the Family Law Section of the state bar association dropped a podcast hosted by my partner Aaron Weems with an estate lawyer, Mary Kay Kelm. It covered a broad range of topics including diminishing capacity...more

Stark & Stark

Ambiguities in a Will - The Doctrine of Probable Intent

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​​​​​​​In rare instances, during the administration of an estate, there might arise an ambiguity within the language of the decedent’s Last Will and Testament as to how the decedent wished to dispose of his property pursuant...more

Winstead PC

Appellate Court Affirms Findings That Decedent’s Will Was Not A Product Of Undue Influence And That He Had Mental Capacity

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​​​​​​​In In re Estate of Hogan, a father executed a new will, leaving his estate to one of his sons (Harold) and disinheriting his other son (Gary). No. 11-20-00170-CV, 2022 Tex. App. LEXIS 3863 (Tex. App.—Eastland June 9,...more

Adler Pollock & Sheehan P.C.

Will Your Will Be Contested?

If your estate has to be probated, in a perfect world everything will go without a hitch and the assets are distributed to beneficiaries in a timely manner. Everyone is satisfied with their inheritance and family harmony is...more

Winstead PC

Court Holds That Initialing A Will Is Sufficient To Meet The Execution Requirement

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In Jones v. Jones, the decedent’s wife filed an application for probate of an attested will for her husband, and the decedent’s son from a previous marriage filed a petition contesting the will. No. 01-20-00073-CV, 2022 Tex....more

Stark & Stark

Red Flags Indicating a Potentially Invalid Will

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When considering whether to contest a decedent’s Last Will and Testament, an individual should consider whether red flags might be present which may point to a successful basis to challenge a disputed Will. The purpose of...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Surrogate’s Court Provides Guidance On Proving The Validity Of A Remotely Witnessed Will

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

In January 2021, I wrote about Broome County Surrogate David H. Guy’s decision in Matter of Ryan, in which Surrogate Guy addressed the admission of a remotely witnessed will to probate in New York State.  Recently, in Matter...more

Downey Brand LLP

Are an Estate Planner’s Notes Protected by the Attorney Work Product Doctrine?

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California law is surprisingly unclear as to whether the notes of an estate planning attorney are protected from discovery by the attorney work product doctrine. This can become a big issue in a will or trust contest when the...more

Burns & Levinson LLP

My Sibling is a Narcissist: Strategies for Fiduciary Litigation

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So, your sibling is a narcissist. Could this affect your inheritance under your parents’ estate plan? Here are some common intrafamilial disputes and possible strategies to avoid being disinherited as a result of your...more

Cole Schotz

Contested Estates – When Is The Right Time To Go To Court?

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In a contested estate situation, family members are mad, often fighting mad. A common client question is, “When are we going to court?” Perhaps surprisingly, our usual answer to this is, “Only when everything else has...more

Robins Kaplan LLP

[Webinar] Representations of Wealth Planning and Conflict in Film and Literature: What Can We Learn from Such Depictions? -...

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Producers, writers, and reporters have long been fascinated with high-stakes wealth, estate and trusts, and shareholder disputes. Whether tragic or comic, the drama between clients, families, business partners, as well as the...more

Winstead PC

Court Reverses Summary Judgment On The Issue Of Whether A Testatrix Had The Mental Capacity To Execute A New Will

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In In the Estate of Mahaffey, a testatrix executed a new will nine days before she died of cancer. No. 04-19-00122-CV, 2019 Tex. App. LEXIS 11171 (Tex. App.—San Antonio December 27, 2019, no pet. history)....more

Winstead PC

Court Holds That Will Contestant Was Not Estopped From Challenging The Will Due To Accepting Assets

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In "In the Estate of Johnson," a decedent’s daughter filed a will contest after accepting over $146,000 from the estate. No. 05-18-01193-CV, 2019 Tex. App. LEXIS 9646 (Tex. App.—Dallas November 4, 2019, no pet.). ...more

Goulston & Storrs PC

Probate & Fiduciary Litigation Newsletter – August 2019

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The Probate & Fiduciary Litigation Newsletter compiles recent Trust & Estate cases. Our lawyers are at the forefront of this area of the law, shaping how it is handled in the Probate and Family Court. Goulston & Storrs is the...more

Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel, P.C.

Preventing a Will Contest

Emotions can run high at the death of a family member. If a family member is unhappy with the amount they received (or didn't receive) under a will, he or she may contest the will. Will contests can drag out for years,...more

Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel, P.C.

How to Contest a Will

You had a loving relationship with your mother and she always said she would leave everything to you and your siblings, but after she died, you discover she had recently written a new will, leaving everything to her...more

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