Our team also represents personal representatives of estates involved in disputes and controversies regarding the administration of estates.
Undue influence
An individual may be coerced into executing a will or trust which does not reflect their intent. A testator is often coerced by a friend, health-care worker, advisor, or even a family member. That individual coerces the testator into making or changing a will or trust to create beneficiaries that are unaligned with the testator’s actual interests. Concerned parties should be alert to the potential for coercion where a testator has suffered from cognitive decline or is dependent on others. When these circumstances are present, and a testator makes changes to a long-standing estate plan or alters the previous designation of beneficiaries to include new beneficiaries that otherwise were not previously close with the testator, it is possible that the testator fell victim to undue influence. Undue influence may also be present where the testator excludes a person or entity otherwise part of the testator’s previous estate plan.
Lack of capacity
Where an individual lacks the required mental capacity to execute a will or trust, the resulting document is subject to challenge. A testator may lack the capacity required if they suffer from cognitive decline.
Improper execution
Each jurisdiction where the will is executed maintains different requirements with regard to how that will or trust must be executed. A will or trust may be set aside where it is not signed or witnessed in accord with the rules of that jurisdiction. Further, a will or trust may also be set aside where there are other reasons on the face of the document to believe that it does not constitute an effective testament of the individual’s intent.
Where concerned individuals have reason to believe that executors and administrators of estates have not lived up to their fiduciary duties, our attorneys can petition courts to compel accountings, or, in extreme cases, seek to remove the executor or administrator from service, surcharged, and substituted.
Zarwin Baum’s collaborative culture ensures that our estate litigation attorneys work closely with the firm’s Estate Planning and Administration of Wills & Trust team to ensure that litigated outcomes align with tax and legal needs of will and trust contestants and beneficiaries.